GES denies change of SHS students reopening date amid New Year

The management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) says it has not changed the date for government Senior High School (SHS) students to report to their respective second-cycle schools from January 3, 2023, to January 9, 2023.

The Education Service comment comes after a viral statement it has described as fake said the Senior High School (SHS) reporting date amid the New Year celebration has been postponed to the second week of January 2024.

“Management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) wishes to inform students, staff, parents and the general public that due to the New Year celebration, the Senior High Schools are expected to reopen Tuesday, January 9, 2023

Heads of Basic schools are to note that the reopening date for primary and Junior High Schools remains Tuesday, January 9, 2024. Students, staff and the general public are to take note,” the fake statement sighted by Thisterm.com stated.

GES in the 2023/2024 academic calendar said Junior High School graduates who sat for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) are to report to their chosen Senior High School (SHS) on December 4 and stay till May 5, 2023.

It stated that they will, however, return to school on May 13, 2024, until July 9, 2024. As communicated in the Ghana Education Service (GES) 2023/2024 academic calendar, the date applies to both single-track and double-track students.

They are due to go on break again on July 10, 2024, and reopen on September 3 up to November 15, 2024, when the academic year ends.

On the other hand, single-track students will report to school from December 4 until March 15, 2024, and go on vacation from March 16, 2024, to May 2, 2024.

The second semester will begin on May 3, 2024, until August 28, 2024, when the academic calendar will end.

Form two and three students under the single track system are to report to school today, November 1 till March 5, 2024, and begin the end of the first semester break from March 6 to May 2, 2024.

They are also expected to return to school on May 3, 2024, to begin the second semester up to August 28, 2024, to end the academic year.

Form Two students under the double track system will have to wait until March 8, 2024, to begin the first semester and until May 9, 2024, to end the semester.

The second semester will begin on July 12, 2024, until November 15, 2024, when the academic year will come to an end.

It is significant to note that the Christmas break will be from December 21, 2023, to January 2, 2024, while the Easter break will be between March 29 and April 16, 2024.

Form Three students under the double track will also begin their first semester on January 3, 2024, to March 28, 2024, to end the first semester.

Their second semester begins on April 17 until August 23, 2024.

However, for Form Three students under the single-track system, the first semester begins today, November 1, 2023, and ends on March 5, 2024, while the second semester is from May 3, 2024, to August 28, 2024, when they will complete school.

The calendar also indicated that basic schools would be in session for 12 weeks from October 3 to December 22, 2023. December 23, 2023, to January 8, 2024, are the scheduled dates for the vacation.

They are expected to resume for the second term for 14 weeks from January 9, 2024, to April 11, 2024. They will go on vacation from April 12 to 29, 2024.

The students will return to school on April 30 for the third term which will last 13 weeks. During that Form Three students will write the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in July 2024.

However, Form One and Form Two students will be at school from April 30 to July 25, 2024. In all, the students have a total of 39 weeks of contact.