The Executive Director of Eduwatch, Kofi Asare says both the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ministry of Education have any tangible justification for the introduction of the semester system to the pre-tertiary sector.

According to him, the decision was not based on any research document and does not solve any problem or gap in the pre-tertiary education sector.  

“So at the end of the day, it becomes another wish of someone which ends up being imposed onto the sector,” he said.

Speaking on JoyNews’ PM Express, Tuesday, Kofi Asare stated that the proposed semester calendar for the pre-tertiary sector comes without a policy document detailing how the new calendar will be implemented.

He described it as a “needless” action targeted at wasting the country’s resources.

“If you ask the GES and the Ministry of Education what is wrong with the trimester system, they’re not able to tell you anything. The PRO was indicating that it was a policy issue and so they’ll have to keep discussing with the teachers without actually believing that they will drop the policy.

“Has anyone in this country seen that policy document? Have you seen any policy document on this proposed semester system? There’s nothing like that. There’s no document called a policy document for a proposed semester system. There’s nothing like that. You’ll ask and ask and you won’t find anything,” he said.

He further noted that the semester system is not in response to a problem or gap in the trimester system.

According to him, the trimester system has been used in the country “for over 70 years” without fail, thus the introduction of the semester system was entirely unwarranted.

“But let’s ask ourselves, why do we change policies? It is basic on social policy discourse and social policy management? You change policies when existing policies exhibit deficiencies, exhibit gaps that are not easily surmountable.

“What deficiencies, what gaps have we through research and experience established in the running of the trimester system which has existed in this country for over 70 years? What gaps have we analysed, researched into and established?

“And if we even establish any gaps, what measures have we taken that has failed to warrant any discussion about a semester system? None,” he said.

He has, therefore, joined calls for the Education Ministry and the GES to rescind the new calendar immediately and return to the trimester system.