GES to meet stakeholders over 2023 academic year calendar

Three days after reopening all schools to commence this academic year, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has invited relevant stakeholders in the education sector for further discussions on the 2023 academic year calendar.

In a statement shared with AcademicWeek, the management of the GES said the consultative meeting with stakeholders on the academic calendar will take place at its Director-General’s conference room on January 12, 2023.

The 2023 academic year calendar stakeholders meeting comes after the Chairman of the Ghana Education Service (GES) Council, Micheal Nsowah said the calendar released to heads of schools is provisional and subject to changes.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic newspaper, he said the provisional 2023 academic year calendar which will see two cohorts be in school at a time he said it will lessen pressure on teachers as they will not be stressed in classrooms.

“There had been an increase in student population in a good number of schools and so allowing all three cohorts at a time could bring about congestion and its consequences,” the GES official told the Daily newspaper in an interview.

Mr Nsowah further said, “all things being equal, this is how it is going to be; if anything happens, that will call for a change but the Ghana Education Service (GES) hoped that nothing would happen to bring about a change.”

Explaining the transitional calendar to the Daily Graphic, the Chairman of the Ghana Education Service Council said it will make room for the few schools which were running the double-track because of the large numbers of students.

Meanwhile, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the Ministry of Education (MoE), Kwasi Kwarteng has said the provisional timetable for this academic year not approved by the Carbinet is at the finalisation stage.

“It is already out but it is possible there would be some changes because the Cabinet has to approve it. Hopefully, it will be approved in the coming days, but a lot may not change,” the MoE spokesperson told Daily Graphic.

Asked when the results of Junior High School students who sat for the 2022 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE0 will be released, the Education Ministry spokesman said it is expected to be out on January 19, 2023.

“Once the 2022 BECE for School results are out, the process for the placement of candidates into Senior High and Technical institutions will begin,” Mr Kwarteng said in the discussion with the national newspaper.