Accra: MoE peaks on re-opening date of basic schools

The Education Ministry has stated that it is readying itself to announce a reopening date for all public basic schools across the country.

In an interview with Joy News, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ministry, Kwasi Kwarteng noted that COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the academic calendar in the past.

He averred that the delays in announcing reopening dates for basic schools has been occasioned by plans resolve the disparities that Covid-19 caused in the academic calendar.

“It’s an undeniable fact that the whole COVID regime certainly distorted our academic calendar. But of course, what the Minister for Education has done is to now set the clarity, so that the inconsistencies and of course the discrepancies when it comes to our academic calendar, that we have been witnessing, will be a thing of the past.

“And so what the Minister for Education, the honourable Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has done is to set up a ministerial committee on school calendar. The committee had met, of course, under the leadership of the Deputy Minister, Rev. Ntim Fordjour. Just last Thursday, they finalised the draft document of their work,” he said.

Mr. Kwasi Kwarteng also mentioned that the actions of the Ministry was well intended to address issues revolving around reopening dates for this year and beyond .

“What it means is that, we’re going to have clarity and consistency in the academic calendar of our students. Not only for the 2021/2022 academic calendar, but even beyond. And so you’ll be having 2022/2023, 2023/2024, so that we set that clarity. So those problems with inconsistencies in re-opening dates, will be a thing of the past,” he further explained.

Asked when the Committee will complete its work, Mr. Kwarteng stated that, “We’re very hopeful that within this week, the final report will come out so that we’ll have a clarity on the academic calendar, i.e. reopening and closing for all schools in the pre-tertiary category”.

Deputy ranking member on Parliament’s Education Committee, Clement Apaak had earlier raised concerns regarding the reopening of public basic schools.

He disclosed that two weeks into the new year, basic school pupils in private schools were already reporting for the academic however same cannot be said about their counterparts in public schools.

Clement has thus threatened to haul the Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, before Parliament to explain the situation before the house.