The Ghana Education Service (GES) has disclosed that the body has begun talks with the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for the 2021 West African Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to be rescheduled for September/October.

With that been said, GES said it has also recommended that the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) should also take place in November 2021.

This was made known to the public by the Director-General for GES, Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa at a press conference in Accra on Monday, January 4.

According to him, this decision by the Ghana Education Service (GES) will ensure that the students have adequate time to prepare for the exit exams.

“Per our arrangements, we expect that the next exams will be written in September/October, and we have already started discussions with WAEC on that.” – he said.

He added that “We needed to make provision for marking and release of exam results and reopening so if we decide on October/November, it will be difficult for WAEC to release exams early enough for admissions to take place in January.”

“So, per our calculation, we have proposed September /October, and we noticed that when we use these dates, we would have covered 1,700 hours and will only be short of one-hour contact period which we can always make up for,” he added.

Professor Opoku Amankwa also expressed optimism that the exit examination time tables would revert to their normal dates by 2023.

“Looking into the future, WASSCE will be held in July/August and BECE in September for 2022. In 2023, WASSCE will then come back to our normal date which is May/June and then BECE will follow suit,” he said.

This follows the President’s Address to the nation which aired yesterday which confirmed the dates for reopening of schools following the outbreak of the deadly Covid-19 pandemic.

The President in his speech yesterday night, Sunday, January 3, 2020 gave out the dates for the reopening of schools for students in Creche, Primary, JHS, SHS, Universities, details are as follows.

President Akufo-Addo said that the Government in consultation with the appropriate stakeholders will continue to pursue a strategic, controlled, progressive, safe easing of restrictions, in all public and private basic schools, junior high, senior high, and tertiary institutions across the country, beginning this month of January.

Creche to JHS: According to him, all children in Kindergarten, Primary, and Junior High Schools (JHS), in both private and public schools, will be back returning to school to continue their academic works on 15th January, 2021.

SHS 1 Students: He Added that all fresh SHS 1 students will be going to school starting from 10th March 2021, with all students embarking on a single-track academic calendar.

SHS 2 & 3 Students: SHS 2 and SHS 3 will, however, return to school from 18th January. He added that SHS 3 students in all schools, like SHS 1 students, will no longer run the double-track system (Straight forward, no more traffic light).

“The expansion of infrastructure at the various senior high schools, over the last three (3) years, has brought us to this favorable situation. However, the double-track system will still be applicable to SHS 2 students in schools that are employing it” – he stressed.

University Students: Nana Addo said in his speech that all Students in universities and other tertiary institutions are to be in school from Saturday, 9th January.

The president added by saying that prior to the reopening of schools in the country, Government, through the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service, will ensure that all institutions, public and private, are fumigated and disinfected.

“Schools and institutions, with their own hospitals and clinics, will be equipped with the necessary personal protective equipment, and have isolation centres to deal with any positive cases.

“All other schools and institutions, without their own clinics and hospitals, have been mapped to health facilities. There will be, for now, no mass gatherings and no sporting activities.

“However, religious activities for students at school, under the new protocols, will be permitted. Social distancing and the wearing of face masks must become the norm in our schools.

“The requisite provisions have been made to ensure that students at all levels of the education ladder receive the minimum number of contact hours upon their return to school.” Read His Full Text Here.