The Ministry of Education has indicated that the reopening date for fresh Senior High School students remains December 4, 2023.
The date, which is for both single and double-track students, was contained in the 2023/2024 academic calendar released by the Ghana Education Service.
There have been concerns about the short period students have to prepare in reporting to school.
The spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Kwasi Kwarteng, however, says the academic calendar was released weeks ago to allow parents to prepare ahead of time.
“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. 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.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, on Friday, urged the Ministry of Education to reconsider the date and change it to the first week of January 2024.
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.”