NO KNEE-JERK APPROACH TO SEMESTER CALENDAR-ASH. SRC TO GOV'T.

The Ashanti Regional Student Representatives Council, SRC, has observed that government’s planned introduction of a double track semester calendar for senior high schools starting from the 2018/2019 academic year beginning from next month will come with opportunities for increased enrollment in the participating schools while more teachers are to be employed to administer the free secondary education policy. 

The SRC notes however, that despite these benefits, the system will be inherent with certain critical challenges that government must give priority consideration to for solution to achieve the intended objective. 

These were contained in a Communique jointly signed by the President, Maxwell Boakye Afaglo and the Regional Coordinator, Raphael Sarkodie and issued after the Council’s 21^st Annual Residential Congress held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi. The four-day Congress, which was on the theme: “A Year on in the Implementation of the Free SHS Policy; Successes, Challenges, Projections” was attended by one thousand, 500 delegates from 112 senior high schools in the Ashanti region to deliberate on pertinent issues concerning pre-tertiary education and students. 

The Communique entreated government to focus on improving the physical infrastructural base of the schools to accommodate  the growing numbers of students from the basic level and avoid what they call ‘knee-jerk reactions’ in dealing with identified challenges with the free SHS policy. 

Again, it has asked government to a critical look at the contact hours under the planned double-track semester calendar with the aim of reconciling it with the syllabus so that the beneficiary students do not suffer unduly. 

The Communique advised government again to intensify public education on the new system so as to adequately psyche members of the public about it and that the roles played by such key stakeholders as the Parent-Teacher Associations, SRCs, should be involved and extra curricular activities like sports and culture must be properly integrated into the system. 

The Regional SRC suggested also to government to consider recruiting additional non-teaching staff to support the teaching staff to minimize possible challenges of work that would be associated with the introduction. 

The Communique described introduction of the Free Senior High School policy as a groundbreaking initiative that is impacting positively the lives of many students and families across the country for which it must be sustained. 

However, it urged government to closely monitor the National Buffer Stock Company to ensure that the quality of food supplied for students’ consumption is not compromised while ensuring timely release of funds for various activities under the policy.

It concluded "Student leaders in second cycle institutions across the Ashanti region pledge their utmost support to these policies by government and calls on government to genuinely resolve all the challenges associated with the policies to ensure maximum benefit for students of this nation."