The Ranking Member of the Education Committee in Parliament, Clement Apaak, is urging the Minister of Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, to reconsider the decision to keep the reopening date for first-year Senior High School Students on December 4 and instead move it to January 2024.
Following the release of the 2023/2024 academic calendar by the Ghana Education Service for both single and double-track students, there has been widespread concern about the short notice given to students to prepare for school.
In response to these concerns, the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, pleaded with the Ministry of Education to reconsider the date and change it to the first week of January 2024.
However, the Ministry of Education has so far refused to budge, insisting that the reopening date will remain on December 4.
In an interview on Eyewitness News on Citi FM, Dr. Clement Apaak emphasized the need to address the challenges raised by Teacher Unions, parents, and students on the matter.
“Clearly, the ministry has not ameliorated the challenges that the students are going to face, so when the PRO seeks to suggest that cost on the parents have been lessened and mentions textbooks, it is important to note that that is a bit disingenuous.”
“Again there are other challenges, hence, you can’t assume that because you have a harmonized prospectus, every parent will have the capacity to be able to raise some amount of money within this short period of time to send their ward to school. We can’t overlook the challenges and pressures parents are going through given the short time period that has been reported as resumption date.”