GES must apologise for changing final year SHS students’ academic calendar – Nortsu-Kotoe

The Ranking Member on Parliament’s Education Committee, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe has chided the Ghana Education Service (GES) for its impromptu restructuring of the academic calendar for third-year high school students.

Mr. Nortsu-Kotoe said the parents were owed an apology after some of them were left stranded at schools.

The National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations of Ghana, for example, said the sudden rescheduling date came to them as a surprise.

“The GES must apologise to parents and Ghanaians public for his action,” the Akatsi North MP said in a Citi News interview.

He said this incident was a reminder that the GES needed to engage better with parents.

“That is what some of us have been calling for. For this programme [Free SHS] to be successful, engage parents and stakeholders,” Mr. Nortsu-Kotoe said.

Charles Adjetey Sowah is the National Administrator for the National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations of Ghana complained to Citi News that “nobody contacted the PTAs regarding any postponement of the date.

He also said better communication on such matters was critical.

“Just engage us. It is not anything difficult. So going forward, we will appeal to them that they should engage us.”

The announcement of the postponement was first seen on the GES Facebook page at around 9 am.

Some parents, who were left angered, also said they were notified via WhatsApp.

For a lot of the parents, their wards were already at or en route to school.

The form 3 students were to have reported to school on April 6 and be in school until 28th May 2021.

With the new arrangement, final year students are to report on May 5, 2021.

They will be in school until they write their WASSCE, the GES explained.

“Management of GES, therefore, considers this, as a better option where the students will not break their instructional period and have their full 1,080 hours needed prior to the final examination.”

Source: Fiilafmonline/CitiNews