GES, unions meet tomorrow on semester system
The Ghana Education Service (GES) will meet the teacher unions tomorrow over its decision to introduce the semester system in the pre-tertiary educational system.
The Director-General of the GES, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, who stated this, explained that management did not unilaterally come out with the academic calendar but that the unions were consulted.
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He explained that the Ghana National of Association of Teacher (GNAT) were consulted, but added that the challenge was that, it was the time the leadership of the unions were attending the GNAT’s national conference and therefore, representatives were detailed to participate”.
Prof. Opoku-Amankwa, reacting to complaints of teacher unions, explained that at the consultation, the stakeholders were presented with the two scenarios of how the semester and trimester would be like, “and they said they preferred the semester system.
“So, if after the release of the calendar, the unions realised that there were certain aspects of it that did not go down well with them, they could always come back because, as for consultation, it does not end,” he explained.
Unions
Last Monday, the four teacher unions called on the GES to withdraw the entire semester system at the pre-tertiary level for wider consultations with stakeholders before implementation.
According to the unions, the unilateral change in the school calender from the trimester system to the semester system to cover pupils at the primary and the kindergarten levels by the GES was arbitrary and an imposition on the major stakeholders in education, of which the unions were a part.
The unions are the GNAT, the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Coalition of Concerned Teachers-Ghana (CCT-Gh) and the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU).
Consultations
“We, therefore, call on the GES to immediately withdraw the policy, pending full consultations with the unions in education and other major stakeholders, and do serve notice that failure to do so will be resisted fiercely,” the unions said in a joint statement issued yesterday.
It was signed by the General Secretary of GNAT, Mr Thomas Musah; the President of NAGRAT, Mr Angel Carbonu; the President of CCT-Gh, Mr King Awudu Ali, and the General Secretary of TEWU, Mr Mark Dankyira Korankye.
According to the unions, at no point in time were they consulted on such a major policy decision.
Room for further discussion
But Prof. Opoku-Amankwa explained that the decision, “is not cast in stone If they have ideas and suggestions, for us, the important thing is that we need additional time to ensure that the children who have been home for some time now, will catch up”.
Prof. Opoku-Amankwa explained that the academic year had 40 weeks and the understanding was that instead of the trimester, which would be for instance, 12 weeks, 14 weeks and 14 weeks, the semester system would be 20 weeks each, but each semester would be broken down into 10 weeks because, each semester, would have about 10 days break aside the end of the semester.
“What it means is that, we agreed that, why don’t we rather put it into two, but do four sessions, such that each session would be 10 weeks,” he explained, adding that management considered the semester system to be better than the 14 weeks, which it saw as too long.
The General Secretary of GNAT, Mr Thomas Musah, confirmed in an interview with the Daily Graphic yesterday that the GES contacted them for the said meeting.
He, however, said although members of the teacher unions had been invited, “our position on the withdrawal of the semester system still remained.
“At the meeting on Thursday, we will still insist that they should withdraw the system,” he emphasised.
My First Day at School
Meanwhile, in a related development, the management of the GES, “wishes to welcome back to school, all basic school teachers, learners and particularly, ‘My First Day at School’ learners.
“We wish to assure parents, students, teachers and the general public that GES will work closely with the teacher unions and other stakeholders to ensure that the 2022 academic calendar is not disrupted,” a statement signed and issued by the Head of the Public Relations unit, Ms Cassandra Twum Ampofo said.
The statement reminded parents, learners and school authorities to continue to observe the COVID-19 health and safety protocols.