The Chairman of Ghana Education Service (GES) Council, Michael Nsowah has described as remarkable the Education Minister’s decision to enforce what he says is the standardized hours for teaching and learning activities at the basic school level.
Education Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh proposed as part of reforms for the sector, the revision of closing hours from the current 2 pm to 4 pm.
The extension of the closing time for pupils at first cycle institutions attracted some mixed reactions from some parents and guardians after the hint by the Minister.
While the state’s move has been welcomed by a section of the public, many stakeholders in the sector believe the amount of time to be spent by basic schools is excessive and unnecessary.
But, Mr Nsowah in an interview with Fiifi Banson on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM said the proposal by the Minister is not alien to the system, as basic schools, according to him, must devote a minimum of 9 hours for school activities daily.
For him, the move is a positive step forward regarding the “effectiveness of our school system”.
“There is no law prescribing that schools should close at 2:00 pm. The law governing our school system says school hours should be from 8:00 am-4:00 pm. Education officials have just relaxed the system in the past that is why we see all these things happening.
“What happened was that as part of the education reforms in 1987, we decided that from 2 pm, it’ll be meaningful to give teachers a breather in teaching so that they could have a break from teaching and rather spend time to research, do their marking, and also do other non-teaching or extra-curricula activities, so that by 4 pm school closes. So the Minister is not introducing anything new, it is already part of the system.”
Source: kasapafmonline.com
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Good show and good policies. Ghana must wake up from laziness and slumber. During our time there was no extra classes and school closes at 4pm. we did exceptionally well. this system must come back to stop these ***barred word*** extra classes and extraction of money than actual teaching. Lazy teachers must wake up. This must extend to the private schools as well. Government must ban extra classes during normal school days. GOOD SHOW MR. MINISTER.
Chairman Nsowah please the 1987ndirective you quoted is running counter to current legislation. Find time and do some research about the current Labour Law Act 651.
Did I hear u saying research? What are they researching and with what materials are they using to do that research?
Learning for more hours with an empty stomach will lead to poor performance from students. Hope the minister of education keep that in mind.
THEN OBSERVE THE LAW TO THE LETTER. What it also mean is that apart from the 1 hour left (from 4pm to the 5pm), no preparation for next day lesson. Teachers have 1 hour to prepare for the next day. this is because the same law or act has made some wonderful revelations about how public servants should rest. Mr. Nsowah can read this: Hours of work Sections 33 to 39 of the Labour Act cover hours of work. A maximum is set at 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week, except in cases expressly noted in the Act. Provision is made for paid overtime, and the Act permits unpaid overtime in certain exceptional circumstances “including an accident threatening human lives or the very existence of the undertaking”. Under section 40, workers in continuous workdays are entitled to a rest period of at least 30 minutes counted as normal hours of work, but where the normal hours of work are split into two, the break should not be less than one hour duration and is not counted as part of the normal work hours. Workers have the right to a continuous daily rest period of at least 12 hours between 2 consecutive work days, and a weekly rest period of 48 consecutive hours in every 7 days of normal working hours. Section 44 excludes task workers and domestic workers from the 8 hours a day or 40 hours a week maximum.