The Ghana Education Service (GES) and teacher unions are negotiating to match the senior high school (SHS) calendar with the elementary school calendar.
This comes after the basic school academic schedule was reversed to the pre-COVID-19 era beginning with the 2023–2024 school year.
The new academic year for elementary schools will start on Tuesday, October 3, 2023, and end on July 25, 2024, in accordance with the amended calendar.
SHSs continue to use the interim calendar, which runs from January to December each year.
Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) General Secretary Mark Denkyira Korankye explained to the Daily Graphic that the unions were collaborating with the GES to re-align the first and second cycle school calendars in order to address the problem.
He used the meeting with the GES, which was scheduled approximately two weeks ago, as an example. He claimed that it was intended for the stakeholders to determine how "they can fit the senior high school system into this one so that there would be a reconciled programme."
According to Mr. Korankye, the unions had long pushed for a return to the pre-COVID-19 curriculum so that the academic year could start in September or October and schools could enjoy their lengthy break starting in July of the following year.
"The teacher unions have consistently pushed for us to return to the pre-COVID era calendar so that we can know the academic year starts in September or October and ends in June, and then we know there is a long break for kids to relax.
"This time, we're seeing that you take a two-week hiatus and then get a call to come back.
Parents are also harmed since they are unable to plan because they must go and pay school fees once more for yet another term.
After sitting down and discussing it with management, we believe that the current system should be changed so that the academic year would once again start in September or October and end in June or July.
He expressed his appreciation for the updated basic school calendar.
He claimed that the new academic calendar was advantageous since it allowed the many education stakeholders to plan well.
If we had a structured system that aided in planning and preparation, Mr. Korankye added, "that (current schedule) would have allowed the teachers and administrators to prepare appropriately for some of these things."
After the 2022 academic year, the GES switched back to the pre-COVID-19 academic calendar for elementary schools.
According to the reset calendar, it indicates that the first term of the school year 2023/2024 will start on October 3, 2023.
According to a memo signed and issued by Dr. Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, the Deputy Director-General of the GES in charge of Quality and Access, "Management of the Ghana Education Service wishes to inform you that the reopening date for basic schools (kindergarten, primary, and junior high schools) across the country for the first term of the 2023/2024 academic year is October 3, 2023."
The academic calendar is returned to its pre-COVID-19 form, according to the document that was sent to all regional directors of education.
Once the nation saw its first cases of COVID-19 on March 16, 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ordered the shutdown of all schools.
The announcement put a stop to all academic activity and upset the academic schedule.
The start of the academic year has since changed from September/October to January.
This persisted until 2022, when the GES created a transitional schedule in an effort to bring the academic year back to the time before COVID-19.
Two leading education civil society organisations have already welcomed the return to basic school academic calendars from the days before COVID-19.
In separate interviews, the CSOs Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) and Challenging Heights said that while the decision was long overdue, it was still a good one because it would allow parents, guardians, and educational authorities to plan more effectively than it was possible to do in the post-COVID era due to the frequent changes.
-By Belinda Quashi|Mydailyreports24|Ghana
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