Education and Management Expert Nii Armah Addy has expressed some disquiet about the sudden implementation of the new academic calendar by the Ghana Education Service without stakeholder consultation and proper planning.
Mr. Addy argued that even worse is the fact that policymakers and implementers have been unable to justify the recent changes made to the academic calendar. He spoke on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East.
“If we wake up to this curriculum issue, it gets worrying. It is as if we take one step forward, then two steps backwards. What are all these things about? If you consider what we call benchmarking, you always want to benchmark against the best practices in the world. So where is this coming from? If you want to be innovative in your educational curriculum and structure, that is very good but the innovation must be grounded in the needs of the people. It must address the needs of the people. What needs are we addressing with the changes in the academic calendar?”
“I was thinking that going forward, strengthening the quality of education, we would have built on what has been done previously. Why do we have to be forced into the semester system?” he quizzed.
The Educationist was also worried about the lack of consistency and coercion in the implementation of the new academic calendar because private schools are being allowed to continue to run the trimester system.
“At the public basic school level, education is nothing to write home about. So if you want to disrupt it the more with this semester system, then it is a cause for worry,” he said.
Mr. Armah Addy said the 20-week stay in school by students will have serious effects on the productivity of parents as well as have serious psychological effects on students.
Meanwhile, the Ranking Member of Parliament’s Select Committee of Education and Member of Parliament for Akatsi North, Peter Nortsu-Kotoe has also expressed some disquiet about the introduction of the new semester system for Kindergarten, Primary and Junior High School students.
He argued that pupils at the lower levels of education may not be able to cope with the stress of the new system along with its attendant effects. He was speaking to Samuel Mbura on A1 Radio’s Day Break Upper East in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Regional capital.
A1radioonline.com|101.1 MHz|Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith|Ghana
