It’s illegal for teachers to close at 2pm - Former GES Director General

Former Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr. Michael Nsowah Agyei, has said it is unlawful for teachers to close at 2pm.

He pointed out that teachers are part of public servants who are supposed to close at 5pm as mandated by law.

Minister of Education, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has called on the National Council for Curriculum Assessment to review the closing time for basic schools in Ghana.

He has proposed the extension of closing time for basic from 2pm to 4pm.

From his point of view, productivity in the entire country is affected as parents and guardians of the pupils have to leave their various work places to pick up their kids from school.

The extension of the closing time for pupils at first cycle institutions attracted some mixed reactions from some parents and guardians after the hint by the Minister.

The former Director General of GES in an interview on Accra-based Kasapa said "There is no law prescribing that schools should close at 2:00 pm. The law governing our school system says school hours should be from 8:00 am-4:00 pm. Education officials have just relaxed the system in the past that is why we see all these things happening.

"What happened was that as part of the education reforms in 1987, we decided that from 2 pm, it’ll be meaningful to give teachers a breather in teaching so that they could have a break from teaching and rather spend time to research, do their marking, and also do other non-teaching or extra-curricula activities, so that by 4 pm school closes. So the Minister is not introducing anything new, it is already part of the system."