Although the 2022/2023 school year is over and the next term is expected to start on 3rd October 2023, the Ghana Education Service is yet to release the 2023/2024 Full Academic Calendar for Basic and SHS.
The release of the Full Academic Calendar for Basic Schools and Senior High Schools (SHSs) will be a piece of welcome news for schools, parents, students, and teachers.
The GES has already indicated that the new academic year will be as it was before COVID, set in 2019.
What this means is that term one of the school year will end in December 2023 while term two will start early in January 2024. However, GES and the Ministry of Education are yet to officially make the new academic year public for all Pre-tertiary schools in the country.
GES 2023/2024 Full Academic Calendar for Basic and SHS: Teacher Unions Position
Reacting to the yet-to-be-released calendar, teacher unions in the country have called on the MoE and GES to ensure that, the new calendar for public Senior High Schools is structured in line with that of basic schools.
This will mean, SHSs in the country would return to the usual three-term per year school system, and also teachers and students would also have their long vacation from July the following year.
The Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in Charge of Quality and Assessment, Dr Kwabena Tandoh in an interview with the media stated that, the service is putting in place a new calendar which will ensure schools go back to the pre-COVID-19 school calendar.
Mark Denkyira Korankye, the General Secretary of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) has also added his voice to the call. According to him, the various teacher unions are engaging the Education Ministry and GES on the best way forward and how to re-align the first and second-cycle school calendars.
According to him, the Ghana Education Service called a stakeholder meeting barely two weeks ago to discuss and seek the opinions of teacher union leaders on
how “they can fit the senior high school system into this one so that there would be a reconciled programme”.
READ: 2023/24 Term 1 Lesson Plans, Books And More For Teachers
Mr Korankye has explained the rationale behind the unions calling for a calendar that matches that of basic schools. He added that the unions have always pushed for the reversal to the pre-COVID-19 school calendar, which will lead the to start of a new school calendar in September or October.
The GES 2023/2024 Full Academic Calendar for Basic and SHSs is expected to be released soon.