The basic school children in Ghana will resume school on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, to start the new academic Calendar year 2024/2025. This will be the first time that the school year officially opens in September, as it used to be before the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to the impact of COVID-19, the Ghana Education Service (GES) introduced a transitional calendar for the year 2021 and 2022 with the academic year being from January to December. However, the GES began processes towards returning to the September to July calendar in 2023, with schools re-opening on October 3, 2023. The end of the 2022 academic year enabled basic schools to complete their academic year and return fully to the pre-COVID calendar.
2024/2025 calendar
Concerning the first term of the new academic year 2024/2025 calendar presented by the GES, students in kindergarten, primary, and JHS will spend 15 weeks in school. The first term begins from September 10, 2024, to December 18, 2024. Schools will close on December 19, 2024, and reopen for second term on January 7, 2025. The second term will close on April 16, 2025, the students will then have their break from April 17, 2025. The third term will be effective from 6th May 2025 to 24th July 2025, provided that the year will be completed with the instruction for another 15 weeks. The third term will be for 12 weeks.
The disruption began on March 16, 2020, when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ordered the closure of all schools as Ghana reported its first COVID-19 cases. The academic calendar was subsequently thrown off, leading to the January start dates, which persisted until 2022, when the GES introduced a transitional timetable in an effort to restore the pre-pandemic schedule.
A senior source in the GES has disclosed to the Daily Graphic that with the change in the academic calendar after COVID 19 outbreak, the new calendar will become permanent. Also, regarding the future changes, there are ongoing talks to restore the second-cycle academic calendar to that of pre-pandemic model.
For both basic and senior high schools the academic year started from January to December starting from the year 2021/2022 after the closure of schools in March 2020 due to COVID-19. A memo from the GES Deputy Director-General Dr. Kwabena Bempah Tandoh revealed that basic schools reopen the first term of the academic year 2023/2024 on October 3, 2023.
The stakeholders such as parents’ teachers, school authorities have stated their support towards the return to the normal academic calendar of September to July arguing that the option would make it easier to plan and increase the contact hours for effective teaching. The shift enable school to make more manageable purchases for all school stationery and also it has a better consistency in its delivery of education.
However, the SHS calendar has not begun afresh to allow Ghana to write the May/June WASSCE for school candidates together with Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. Ghanaian SHS students are still to conduct a local examination known as the WASSCE. The basic school children in Ghana will resume school on Tuesday, September 10, 2024, to start the new academic Calendar year 2024/2025. This will be the first time that the school year officially opens in September, as it used to be before the onset of COVID-19 pandemic.
In response to the impact of COVID-19, the Ghana Education Service (GES) introduced a transitional calendar for the year 2021 and 2022 with the academic year being from January to December. However, the GES began processes towards returning to the September to July calendar in 2023, with schools re-opening on October 3, 2023. The end of the 2022 academic year enabled basic schools to complete their academic year and return fully to the pre-COVID calendar.
2024/2025 calendar
Concerning the first term of the new academic year 2024/2025 calendar presented by the GES, students in kindergarten, primary, and JHS will spend 15 weeks in school. The first term begins from September 10, 2024, to December 18, 2024. Schools will close on December 19, 2024, and reopen for second term on January 7, 2025. The second term will close on April 16, 2025, the students will then have their break from April 17, 2025. The third term will be effective from 6th May 2025 to 24th July 2025, provided that the year will be completed with the instruction for another 15 weeks. The third term will be for 12 weeks.
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The disruption began on March 16, 2020, when President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo ordered the closure of all schools as Ghana reported its first COVID-19 cases. The academic calendar was subsequently thrown off, leading to the January start dates, which persisted until 2022, when the GES introduced a transitional timetable in an effort to restore the pre-pandemic schedule.
“Management of the Ghana Education Service wishes to inform you that the reopening date for basic schools (kindergarten, primary and junior high schools) across the country for the first term of the 2023/2024 academic year is October 3, 2023,” a memo signed and issued by the Deputy Director-General of the GES in charge of Quality and Access”, Dr Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, said.
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Parents teachers, school authorities have stated their support towards the return to the normal academic calendar of September to July arguing that the option would make it easier to plan and increase the contact hours for effective teaching. The shift enable school to make more manageable purchases for all school stationery and also it has a better consistency in its delivery of education.
However, the SHS calendar has not begun afresh to allow Ghana to write the May/June WASSCE for school candidates together with Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. Ghanaian SHS students are still to conduct a local examination known as the WASSCE.
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On March 16, 2020, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo directed the closure of all schools after the country recorded its initial cases of COVID-19.
The announcement brought all academic activities to a halt, throwing the academic calendar out of gear.
Consequently, the beginning of the academic year shifted from September/October to January.
This continued until 2022 when the GES developed a transitional timetable in an attempt to revert the academic calendar to the pre-COVID-19 era.
SOURCE: http://Graphic.com.gh
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