The Western Regional President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Mr. Justin Nelson has pronounced the newly introduced semester – based calendar for public Kindergarten, Primary, and Junior High Schools as dead on arrival.
Mr. Nelson lamented in an interview with Spice FM, that the Ghana Education Service did not hold any consultations with the major stakeholders in the education sector.
“If the Service wants to extend contact hours in schools, they need to have a consultations with teachers who are the major stakeholders.” He stated.
He was of the opinion that the semester system won’t be of help to both teachers and students, explaining that students would find it difficult to recollect what they’ve been taught whilst teachers would be under stress depriving them to have enough rest.
According to him, the total weeks within the two semesters is 52 and school is expected to elapsed for 42 days leaving 10 weeks for vacation. This he believe is not enough for standard teaching and learning.
On the contrary, the Deputy Director-General for Quality and Access of the Ghana Education Service, Dr. Kwabena Tandoh, addressing the media in Accra said, the system will ease pressure on teachers, decongest the various schools, and help align academic calendars.
“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 stated.
Mr. Nelson however, noted that, if the Ministry is increasing the number of hours, they need to prepare to pay extra monies for the additional hours spent in schools.
