We were not consulted in academic calendar change – EDUWATCH

The Africa Education Watch (EDUWATCH), an education policy research and advocacy organisation, says Ghana Education Service (GES) did not consult it in the development of the 2022 new academic calendar.

“For the records, at no point was Eduwatch or its Executive Director ever consulted by GES/MOE in taking such a decision. Like all other citizens, we were only informed through GES’s Facebook page,” EDUWATCH said in a press release copied to the Ghana News Agency.

This is in response to a comment made by Mr Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, Deputy Director General of GES, in an interview in Accra that the Organisation was consulted prior to the introduction of the academic calendar.

EDUWATCH said decisions such as changing a three-term academic calendar that predated independence to a semester should not be left for the GES only to decide without engaging all relevant stakeholders.

“The lessons from the 3year Vs 4-year SHS duration tango, which affected our education system during the Kufuor-Mills era must remind us of the relevance of building broad stakeholder consensus on such key systemic decisions,” the statement said.

EDUWATCH said the semester system introduced was only an “ad hoc measure” that emerged out of the double track challenge and not at the back of any “proven or unsurmountable challenges” with the trimester system.

In a related development, a coalition of teacher unions has also registered its displeasure with the new semester system introduced in basic schools.

The Group said the GES did not consult them before deciding on the change, adding that, the hours workers in education required to work per day and per week had been a bother to them.

The Group comprised the Ghana National Association of Teachers, National Association of Graduate Teachers, Teachers and Educational Workers Union and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana.