GES must Extend SHS1 reopening date after delayed placement

Ghana Education Service (GES) must extend the SHS1 reopening date after delayed 2021/2022 School Placement

The Ghana Education Service indicated the placements would be released from 14th March but it was not released until late on 26th March 2022. The GES had earlier disclosed that the first years of the 2022 academic year would report to school on 4th April 2022.

With the delayed release of the 2021/2022 placement, the GES needs to extend the reopening for students to allow parents to prepare very well for their ward’s education. With the release of the school placement on Saturday 26th March, students and parents will be checking their placements and doing the self-placement for the next 7 days. It is technically impossible for students to report to school on 4th April 2022. Going to the school for the prospectus alone would need preparation and time.

The GES must extend SHS 1 reopening date after the delayed placement to ensure stakeholders have ample time to get students ready for school. In our earlier publication on the dangers of the delayed placement release titled “Parents can’t prepare well if 2021 School Placements are delayed” we stated that

• If the 2021 School Placement is overly delayed given that students would report to school on 4th April 2022, parents can’t prepare well if 2021 school placements are released late.

Parents and students as key stakeholders need at least 14 days to prepare adequately for school. Preparing for school includes visiting the school the child has been placed in and taking the School Prospectus. Parents need to know whether their wards would be attending school as boarding or day students to buy the relevant items for school.

Read: What to do if School Placement Checker Card is not working

READ: 2021/2022 School placement: Check students who will NEVER be placed

READ: Avoid these 7 mistakes during 2021 Self Placement into SHS

The GES, therefore, needs to extend the reopening date for SHS1 students by at least one week. If this is done, SHS1 students would report to school to commence the academic year on 11th April 2022 however, the 2022 Easter holidays are 15th to 18th. If students report to school on 11th April, they will have to go back home for the Easter break. Hence, the best reopening date for students would be 19th April 2021.

However, if the GES intends to keep students in school during the Easter break, then it would most likely opt for the 11th April 2022 if it extends the reopening date for the SHS1 students.

Ghana Education Service (GES) must extend the SHS1 reopening date after delayed 2021/2022 School Placement. We look forward to an official communiqué from the GES and the MoE on this matter.

Source: Ghanaeducation.org