Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has indicated that the reporting date for first-year SHS students is geared towards plans by the Ghana Education Service and the ministry to return to the old academic calendar.
The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin on Thursday, November 30, 2023, directed the Ministry of Education to reconsider the reporting date for first-year senior high school students.
This was after Members raised concerns about the challenges parents and teachers will go through if students are to report today Monday, December 4, 2023.
Despite calls from the Speaker, members and parents to allow students to report in the first week in January, the ministry insisted that the December 4 reporting be maintained.
Justifying the decision on the floor of Parliament on Monday, December 4, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum said the 2023/24 academic calendar was released in October to give parents and guardians enough time to prepare their wards for the December 4 reporting date.
The minister added, “In consultations with GES and other stakeholders, the reporting date is to allow us to go back to the pre-COVID academic calendar”.
Denying the assertion raised by members that teachers have not had enough rest, the minister said “Since the introduction of the double track calendar in 2017, more of teaching and non-teaching staff have been employed to schools as a matter of fact, majority of teachers are only at post when a particular track is in session. So it cannot be true that all teachers have never had any rest since the double track was introduced,” He added
