The reopening date for new Senior High School students is still December 4, 2023, according to the Ministry of Education.

The Ghana Education Service (GES) published the 2023–2024 academic calendar, which includes the date for both single-track and double-track students.

The brief time students have to get ready before arriving to school has raised concerns.

However, the academic calendar was made public some weeks ago, according to Kwasi Kwarteng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Education, to enable parents make plans in advance.

“Resumption date for students within the SHS space remains Monday, December 4, 2023. The expectation is that students report on the first day. But let me also hasten to add that, the first-year students who are unable to report on the first day will not automatically lose their slots. Students can report the following day or even the following week, as we have always witnessed.

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If you look at the academic calendar, it had already been within the public space for some time now and the expectation was that parents, guardians, and even students prepared ahead of time,” he added.

On Friday, Alban Bagbin, the Speaker of Parliament, encouraged the Ministry of Education to reevaluate the schedule and move it to the first week of January 2024.

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Following concerns expressed by the Minority caucus over the short period for students to make preparations in reporting to school, the Speaker of Parliament said: “The house calls on and urges the Minister of Education to reconsider the directive by the Ministry of Education to students and authorities, including teaching and non-teaching staff, to resume academic work on Monday, December 4, 2023.”

“The house proposes for the consideration of the Ministry of Education the first week of January 2023 for the resumption of academic work in these schools. The Minister of Education is directed thereafter to report to brief the house on Monday, December 4.”

Source: the independentghana.com