First and second cycle schools nationwide will start the 2023 academic year on Tuesday, January 10, according to the Ghana Education Service (GES).
For second-cycle institutions, it will mark the start of the first semester; for basic schools, it will mark the beginning of the first term.
The impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, which caused schools to be compelled to close in March 2020, has caused the academic year to start in January for the third consecutive year.
Previously, the academic year began in September every year.
There will not be double tracking at any level, and only two year groups of the three cohorts of senior high school (SHS) students are to be in class at any given time for the academic year, according to the provisional 2023 academic calendar distributed to heads of institutions by the Ministry of Education and the GES.
The GES states that the choice was made to avoid congestion and to keep social distance in order to avoid COVID-19.
Students in SHS Three’s first semester will run from January 10 to February 17, 2023, according to the new calendar.
The first semester will then come to a close with a break for the students from February 18 to March 12 and a return to classes from March 13 to June 2.
The second semester will run from June 19 to September 28, 2023, after which they will take a break from June 3 to June 18.
For SHS Two students, the first semester will run from January 10 to March 9 this year, followed by a break from March 10 to April 21. They will return to school from April 24 to June 2 and then have a break from June 3 to August 6 of 2023.
This year’s second semester will run from August 7 until December 22.
According to the calendar, SHS One students will report to class from February 20 to April 21, 2023, before taking a holiday from April 22 to June 18, 2023. After taking a break from August 5 to October 1, 2023, the students will return to class from June 19 through August 4 to finish the semester.
Beginning on October 2 and lasting through December 22, 2023, is the second semester.
