“Indeed, the Ministerial Committee on schools’ calendar engaged representatives of the unions and school heads. However, we will continue to engage the Unions and other stakeholders if they have noted additional concerns since the release of the calendar” a portion of a statement signed by the GES’ Head of Public Relations Unit, Cassandra Twum Ampofo said.

The GES last week announced the introduction of a semester-based academic calendar for public Kindergarten, Primary, and Junior High Schools.

Among other things, GES said, the new system will ease pressure on teachers, decongest the various schools, and help align academic calendars.

Teacher Unions in the basic education sector have however kicked against the government’s change of the academic calendar.

The unions; GNAT, NAGRAT, TEWU, and CCT-GH in a joint statement said they are disappointed that for such a major decision, the government did not consult or engage them.

The GES insists it engaged the unions but will continually hold extensive engagements with the hope of arriving at a consensus.

“Management of Ghana Education Service (GES) has taken note of the concerns raised in the press release by the Unions in Education about the new academic calendar and contact hours to schools,” the statement said.

It also promised to ensure that the semester-based system does not disrupt the academic calendar.

“We wish to assure parents, students, teachers, and the public that GES will work closely with the Unions and other stakeholders to ensure that the 2022 Academic calendar is not disrupted.”