GES clarifies academic calendar

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has explained that students under the Double-Track system are expected to spend 162 teaching days in the academic year.

It has, therefore, asked the public to dismiss rumours that under the Double-Track system the students would spend 81 days.

Teaching days

A statement signed and issued by the Head of the Public Relations unit of the GES, Ms Cassandra Twum Ampofo, explained that the teaching days were the number of days students would actually be in the class during the year.

“This excludes weekends and public holidays. Teaching days is a technical term not to be confused with the calendar days which include weekends and public holidays,” the statement explained.

It further explained that the introduction of the semester system and the Double-Track school calendar had increased the number of hours of instruction in an academic year for all students.

Number of hours

“Under the previous trimester system, the total number of hours students spent in the classroom for one academic year was 1,080 hours.

“In the new semester system, the total number of hours students are expected to spend in the classroom for one academic year is 1,134 hours, an increase of 54 hours a year.

It is, therefore, inaccurate for anybody to state that students under the Double-Track system are expected to spend only 81 days in a year of 365 days.

“Students of the Double-Track (Green and Gold) are expected to run three academic years like other second-cycle students before writing their final examinations.

“In effect, the students on the Double-Track system will be expected to have 486 teaching days in their academic work before writing their final year exams and not 81 days,” the statement explained.