GES Introduces Transitional Time Table To Phase Out Double Track System

The Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Prof Akwasi Opoku Amankwaa has informed the country that, the GES has replaced the existing Double Track system time table with a transitional one starting this year.

In an encounter with the media, the DG emphasized that this arrangement is to gradually saying good bye to the Green and Yellow arrangement that became so necessary as a result of the free SHS policy introduced by the government in 2017.

The GES boss intimated that as a result of sheer numerical strength of the students at the time, his organization had to resort to that system to absorb all qualified students at the time. He explained further that the government gave itself 5-7 years to phase off the Green- Yellow system and as he spoke, a considerable infrastructure has been constructed and that has necessitated the new arrangement leading to the ultimate departure from the current arrangement. With the current arrangement, two forms can be in school at the same time while the third form rests to wait in an arrangement where there won’t be alternating cohorts like it used to be the case previously.

A well thought out arrangements have been made to make sure that no form unduly stays home to lose academic contact hours. In this arrangement rather, some contact hours have been added to cover for the hours the schools lost during the COVID-19 period. As a result , the form three students have gained about 40 more contact hours to make room for the lost periods in the COVID-19 era ; so are all other forms. The GES he said, has scheduled the time table to reopen schools on 7th February for the the third and second formers whiles the form ones will tentatively report on campus on 4th of April, 2022.

This will be possible when WAEC releases their result on time and the schools finish the selection on time too. In another development, the GES is also going to run the basic schools system on semester basis like the SHS with a time table to that effect. So from this year,2022 academic year, all schools in Ghana are going to run semester systems. All this arrangements came out when a technical committee set up by the ministry came out with these recommendations.

It’s envisaged that next time, a three- year time table will be announced for stabler academic work to avoid the hindrances in the education calenders . The press were taken through a vivid power point presentation that clearly denotes the new time table being introduced ; the vacations in there, the re- opening dates ,etc. In addition to this, all Technical and Vocational Educational Institutes will be incorporated into this new arrangement due to the fact that they have all been brought under the GES calender with their Director General.

This means they are also going to run semester systems like the other GES schools as explained by the GES boss. He advised students who would report on campus on 7th February to observe the COVID-19 Protocols . Parents were also told to advise their wards to observe the protocols to avoid the escalation of the disease. The DG assured parents that there won’t be any disruptions in the academic calendar as a result of this new arrangement, rather , more contact hours have been added to enable students get more time to conquer their syllabi.

Source:Nana Poku/johnawuniktv@gmail.com