Eduwatch expresses concern over ‘cluttered’ 2023/24 SHS calendar

Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) following the release of the Senior High School calendar for the 2023/2024 academic year has said the SHS calendar would require a lot of explanation for parents to understand.

Director of the education think tank, Kofi Asare commenting on the calendar said “It was not proper for those who would be going to Form Two under the transitional calendar to report to school on March 8, 2024, when Form One students under the single track calendar would have started their academic year today, November 1, 2023.”

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“So they (Form Two students under the transition calendar) would start their academic year in March next year, while those in the single track are starting theirs next month,” the Education Watch Director told the Daily Graphic.

In the case of Form One students reporting to school in December, he said that was possible since the 2023 BECE results would be ready in two weeks, after which they would be released and the students placed in their schools of choice.

With regard to Form Three students, Kofi Asare said, there were different dates for the completion of the academic year under both calendars. He wondered why the academic year ended on different dates for the single and double tracks.

Explaining further, the Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) official said the first-year Free Senior High School (SHS) students would be spending more days in school than at home, which was good.

According to the Ghana Education Service, 2023/2024 Senior High School academic calendar, first-year senior high school students who are awaiting their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results will report to school on December 4, 2023.

SHS 1 students

Per the transitional calendar for double-track students, Form One students will be in school from December 4, 2023, to March 5, 2024. They will, however, return to school on May 13, 2024, until July 9, 2024.

They are due to go on break again on July 10, 2024, and reopen on September 3 up to November 15, 2024, when the academic year ends.

On the other hand, single-track students will report to school from December 4 until March 15, 2024, and go on vacation from March 16, 2024, to May 2, 2024. The second semester will begin on May 3, 2024, until August 28, 2024, when the academic calendar will end.

SHS 2 & 3 students

Form Two and Form Three students under the single track system will report to school today until March 5, 2024, and begin the end of the first-semester break from March 6 to May 2, 2024.

They will return to school on May 3, 2024, to begin the second semester up to August 28, 2024, to end the academic year.

However, Form Two students under the double track system will have to wait until March 8, 2024, to begin the first semester until May 9, 2024, to end the semester.

The second semester will begin on July 12, 2024, until November 15, 2024, when the academic year will come to an end.

It is significant to note that the Christmas break will be from December 21, 2023, to January 2, 2024, while the Easter break will be between March 29 and April 16, 2024.

Double-track SHS 3 students

Form Three students under the double track will also begin their first semester on January 3, 2024, to March 28, 2024, to end the first semester. Their second semester begins from April 17 until August 23, 2024.

However, for Form Three students under the single-track system, the first semester begins today, November 1, 2023, and ends on March 5, 2024, while the second semester is from May 3, 2024, to August 28, 2024, when they will complete school.