EduWatch defends December 4 reporting date for SHS 1 students

Education think tank Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) has defended the Ghana Education Service’s December 4 reporting date for first-year senior high school students across the country.

The think tank explained that the reporting date will enable the country to return to the normal September academic calendar system.

Speaking to Bernard Avle on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM on Monday, December 4, the Executive Director for EduWatch, Kofi Asare, said the dynamics between 2022 and 2023 are not the same and must be taken as such.

He said that “compared to last year, over ten percent more students have been placed this year, and we are yet to return to the old calendar system, but we need to make a switch.”

Mr. Asare intimated that the reporting date and the December 22 vacation date put out by the Ghana Education Service will also help tutors to make time to celebrate Christmas with their families and make Ghana catch up with the rest of West Africa that has returned to the old academic calendar.

“I also appreciate that teachers will also need time to celebrate Christmas, and it will also help us to return to the normal academic calendar because we are the only country in West Africa still in that COVID situation.”

Parents and other relevant stakeholders, prior to the reporting date today, called for an extension, citing various reasons, but the Ghana Education Service (GES) insisted on the December 4 date.

Parliament also called on the Minister of Education to consider rescheduling the reopening date to the first week of January instead of Monday, December 4.

Source: citinewsroom