GES won’t postpone SHS re-opening

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has said that it will not postpone the re-opening of Senior High Schools (SHSs) as has been suggested by some teacher unions is not an option.

The Deputy Public Relations Officer of the GES Isaac Asiedu Odei told Accra-based Citi FM that “GES has issued out the resumption date or the date for the commencement of the first year students of the double track students, and we have not changed it. It remains so.”

He explained that if they postpone the re-opening date, it will affect the academic calendar.

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“Even though we have heard GNAT’s advise, we have not changed our position for the resumption of the schools for the first years.”

His comments come after the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) called for an extension of the reopening date for Senior High Schools.

The GES calendar indicates that both continuing and fresh students of the Senior High Schools are to re-open next Tuesday, September 11.

But GNAT argued that the period between when SHS placements were released and when students were expected in school was too short.

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The school placement was released on Wednesday, September 5, 2018. This is less than a week to the reopening date.

The General Secretary of GNAT, David Ofori Akyeampong therefore argued that an extension of reopening date will give students and parents more time to prepare adequately for admission.

But Mr. Asiedu said the re-opening date will not be changed instead there was still room for some flexibility.

“We also know that the fact that we have set 11th September as the reopening day doesn’t mean we expect every student to report that day. We know the mechanism of students enrolling as they begin schooling when they start a new academic year,” he said.

Over 67,000 students not placed

The Ghana Education Service (GES) released the placements of 423,134 students who successfully made it under the 2018 Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).

The release from the GES means that 67,382 students who have qualified to SHS could not be placed under the system because they could not be matched with any of their school choices.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry has assured that all 67,382 students who have not been placed under the computerised school selection placement system (CSSPS) will have schools by the end of the week.