An experienced teacher has proffered an interesting reason for the unpopular attempt by the government and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to roll out a semester system at the pre-tertiary level.
Stephen Desu, who heads the Innovative Teachers Association, said the cash strapped government was simply trying to avoid paying more capitation grants.
The capitation grants are critical funds advanced to public schools to improve teaching and learning, manage and relieve the financial burdens of parents.
The grants are expected to be released at the start of academic activities within each academic year.
READ ALSO: Basic school teachers kick against new semester system
The trimester system (which the government wants to change) ensures the grant is released three times in an academic year.
The new semester system will cut the release of the funds to only twice in an academic year.
“We think that this whole policy is not a proper policy. We think the government doesn’t want to incur the cost of running a trimester system and so the government is trying to run away from paying capitation grants that is the reason why it wants to reduce it from three to two.
“So this whole thing borders on the ability of government to pay because already the government is in arrears of four capitation grant terms that they ought to pay that it has not paid. And so for me, it’s a cheap way government wants to run away from paying capitation grants. That is all it is,” he said on PM Express, a current affairs programme on Tuesday, January 18, 2022.
Teacher unions and education think tanks have kicked against the new semester system.
Some analysts believe the government's expensive free SHS policy is draining all the education expenditure and plunging the sector into a crisis.