Teachers at the basic education level are agitating against the new semester system introduced by the Ghana Education Service (GES) for the 2022 academic year.
Fronting under the ‘Coalition of Concerned Teachers-Ghana (CCT-GH)’ the basic teachers say there was neither consultation nor consensus on the new system before the GES introduced it for the basic level.
President of CCT-GH, King Ali Awudu, said members are not privy to any policy document guiding the new system and has challenged the GES to produce the document has claimed teachers know about.
“Because we, the Unions that are major stakeholders in Education, have not been consulted on any policy of transforming the trimester to semester permanently.
“What we know is that the trimester was introduced as a stop-gap measure for the lost as a result of COVID-19 and for Senior High Schools as result of the double-track system. So we do not understand the reason why the GES want a semester permanently.
“The GES wants to introduce long hours, that even University students do not spend those long hours. Again basic schools are spending 42-weeks in a year, but SHS 3 students for example are spending less than 42-weeks. We think this is not proper and we are asking the GES to suspend this particular academic calendar. Invite all stakeholders to the table and let us negotiate because that is what our collective agreement and code of conduct say,” King Ali Awudu told GHOne TV on Monday.
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Apart from CCT-GH, other teacher unions like the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (GNAT), Teachers and Education Workers Union (TEWU) have all kicked against the new semester system.
“Any attempt by the Ghana Education Service not to listen to us and to draw the curtain down on these academic calendars for us to come together to negotiate for an amicable conclusion, we are going to fight it fiercely,” the CCT-GH President warned.
The GES announced the new semester system last week when it rolled out the 2022 academic calendar from Kindergarten to SHS3.
Deputy Director-General for Quality and Access at the GES Dr Kwabena Tandoh said the system will ease pressure on teachers, decongest the various schools, and align academic calendars at all levels of education.
“We know based on research that one of the causes of classroom absenteeism among teachers in the various schools was because some teachers sought to upgrade themselves.
“This is because the three-term system in the basic schools overlaps with the university system. Gradually, we are getting to the point where we can align. We are giving teachers the time, by aligning their system with the university systems to upgrade, if need be,” he said on Tuesday.