Suspend new semester system immediately – Teacher Unions warns GES

Teacher unions in basic education have urged the Ghana Education Service (GES) to immediately halt plans to introduce a semester system.

King Ali Awudu, President of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers – Ghana (CCT-GH), told GHOneTV on Monday that because the unions were not consulted prior to the announcement of the new system, they cannot be bound by it.

According to him, the Unions are unaware of any policy document prior to the implementation of the new system the GES wishes to implement and have challenged the GES to produce the document to which they are alluding.

“Because we, the major stakeholders in education, have not been consulted on any policy involving the permanent conversion of the trimester to the semester. What we do know is that the trimester was implemented as a stop-gap measure for students who were lost as a result of COVID-19 and for Senior High Schools due to the double-track system. As a result, we are perplexed as to why the GES desires a semester on an indefinite basis.

“The GES wishes to institute long hours, which even university students do not observe. Again, while elementary schools spend 42 weeks in a year, SHS 3 students, for example, spend less than 42 weeks. This, we believe, is improper, and we are requesting that the GES suspend this academic calendar. Invite all stakeholders to the table and allow us to negotiate, as our collective bargaining agreement and code of conduct require,” he added.

The GNAT, NAGRAT, TEWU, and CCT-GH unions assert that the GES cannot force the new semester system down their throats.

“Any attempt by the Ghana Education Service not to listen to us and to close these academic calendars in order for us to meet and negotiate an amicable resolution, we will fight tooth and nail,” the CCT-GH President warned.

Teacher Unions warns GES
Teacher Unions warns GES

 

 

 

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