Thursday, 28 March

JHSs to run semester system – GES

Education
The GES will now run a semester system for JHSs

Junior high schools in Ghana will start running a semester system from Monday, 18 January 2021, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, has revealed.

He told journalists at a press conference on Monday, 4 January 2020 that: “JHS will be running semester programmes this time around”, adding: “We will make sure that the basic protocols are observed”.

He added: “We will provide reusable face masks” and noted that “schools will not be available for outside activities.”

Providing further details about the semester programme, Prof Opoku-Amankwa said: “They will start from January 18 to June 11”.

“They will then go for a break. The second semester will begin on July 6 for examination. The Form ones and twos, on the other hand, will end the academic year on December 7 but because this will be a long period, we have set up mid-semester breaks”, he continued.

“We will have March 15 to 19, 2021, for the first-semester mid-semester break and the second-semester mid-semester break will be from September 6 to 10, 2021.”

The new system, he noted, will not affect kindergarten and primary schools.

Those schools, he noted, will “start from January 18 to April 16” and they “will then have April 17 to May 3rd as their break period”.

“Their second term, however, will begin from May 4 to August 6. Their break will be from August 7 to September 5. Their third term will begin from September 6 to December 10.”

He also noted that the new academic calendar has been designed to make up for the time lost in the senior schools to COVID-19.

“We have prepared the calendar to capture the time lost while the students stayed at home. We now have what is called the all-year-round calendar. It starts from January to December. We expect that examinations will be written between September and October, after which the year will end. There will be double-track for the second years. As the president indicated, we are phasing out the system.”

Kindergarten, primary and junior highs school (JHS) pupils in both private and government schools will resume school on 15 January 2021, President Nana Akufo-Addo announced on Sunday, January 2021.

Schools were closed down in March last year, as a result of the covid-19 pandemic.

Nana Akufo-Addo, in his 21st Covid-19 address to the nation, noted that measures have been put in place to make the schools safe for pupils.

Nana Akufo-Addo noted that: “From 15 January our children in kindergarten, primary and Junior High in both private and public schools will be back in school.”

Meanwhile, “All SHS 1 students will start classes from 10 March with all students embarking on single track academic calendar.”

Their seniors in SHS 2 and SHS 3 will, however, returned to school on 18 January.

Nana Akufo-Addo stated that SHS 3 students of all schools, like SHS 1 students, will no longer run the double-track system due to the expansion of infrastructure in various Senior High Schools over the last three years.

However, the double-track system will still be applicable to SHS 2 students in schools that are employing it.

Students in universities and other institutions are to be in school from Saturday 9 January.  

The President said all schools will be fumigated before reopening and PPE made available.

There will also be no sporting activities.

 

 

Source: ClassFMonline.com