Accra, November 3, 2023 – The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) has issued a warning, threatening to direct its members to take breaks from work if the government does not commit to discussions to return the academic calendar to the trimester system.
This reaction comes in response to the newly released academic calendar, which has form 2 and form 3 students under the single-track system starting their academic year on November 1 and concluding on March 6. Form two students under the double-track system are expected to commence on March 8 and continue until May 9, offering limited rest periods for teachers.
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In an interview with Citi News, the President of NAGRAT, Angel Carbonu, expressed concerns and conveyed that the association may be compelled to withdraw its members if the government does not revert to the trimester system.
“They are more confused than anybody. Because I can assure you, the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) cannot tell you when the confusion will end. If we were serious, we should not admit the 2023/2024 first years into any double-track programme,” Carbonu said.
“Then we can say certainly that within three years, all schools will come back to normal if we can discipline ourselves and say we want to end the double track in the next three years.”
Carbonu emphasized the need to address the challenges and ensure a return to normalcy in the education system.
“Let us not admit form ones into the double track, then I can say within the next three years in 2026, we will all end the double track for schools to run normally. But one thing I can assure everybody is that we will not continue to be working without rest periods. And a time will come when we take the rest period for ourselves, without resorting to management,” he said.
The concerns raised by NAGRAT highlight the ongoing debate over the implementation of the academic calendar and its effects on teachers' work schedules.
