The decision to cancel the academic year would benefit the majority: the government responds to the Association of private schools

General news for Tuesday, September 1, 2020

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

2020-09-01

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Ghana’s government spokesman, Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has said that the government’s decision to suspend the remainder of the 2019/2020 academic year is a decision made in favor of the majority of Ghanaian school children.

“How many of the more than 6,000 children in basic schools attend schools with enough infrastructure to ensure social distancing? Only a few can do that and most cannot. The president’s decision was not for the minority, it was for the majority. It cannot be something you will do for a few to the detriment of the general population. The decision is that we keep schools closed until January, at which point the committee would have finished implementing measures to ensure student safety, as well as the opportunity for them to make up for lost time in terms of the curriculum. ,” he said.

On Sunday, August 30, 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced the cancellation of the 2019/2020 academic year for junior high, middle, and elementary schools across the country.

The president, however, announced that upper secondary and high school students must resume their studies between October 5 and December 5 to complete the academic year.

“The Ghana Education Service, after further consultation, has decided to postpone the remainder of the academic year for all Kindergarten, Kindergarten, Primary, JHS 1 and SHS 1 students. The next academic year will resume in January 2021 , with necessary adjustments in the curriculum to ensure that nothing is missed from the previous year. The pertinent provisions will also be made so that the presence, at the same time, in the school of all streams of students, can occur safely ”.

In reaction to the president’s announcement, the Private Schools Association has said that although the decision had its benefits considering the time we are in, it goes against them who for the last five or six months have been fighting to pay their staff .

According to the Association’s Public Relations Officer, Mr. Kyei Baffuor, the decision comes ahead of the recommendations of the committee created by the government to work on the safe reopening of schools.

He said the association has a member on the committee and their concerns would have been addressed if the decision had been made after their report was submitted to the Ministry of Education.

However, in response to this, the Information Minister speaking on Okay FM with Kwame Nkrumah Tikese, having said that the decision to suspend the academic year was in the interest of most school-age children, added that the committee does not have the mandate to determine when schools could reopen, but recommend modalities to ensure the safe reopening of schools in January 2021.

“It is true that many private schools have facilities to ensure social distancing and it is also true that many of the private school teachers have not been paid since March and probably will not receive payment until January. But let me clarify that the committee created by the Minister of Education does not have a mandate to determine when schools can reopen. The committee should recommend how we can safely reopen schools when the time is determined, ”he said.

Speaking about the loss of income for private teachers, the minister said that the government hopes to help the situation by implementing the Unemployment Insurance proposed in parliament by the Finance Minister.