The Ghana Education Service (GES) as part of the back to school for safe learning campaign is urging all pregnant girls to return to school when school resumes on the 18th of January, 2021.
According to the GES, this forms part of the policy guidelines on pregnancy and re-entry to discouraged girls’ education from being truncated. In an unfortunate circumstance where a girl child got pregnant or gave birth during the lockdown, she has the right to go back to school without any restrictions from either the parents or any teacher.
According to the Director of Girls Education at GES, Mrs. Benedicta Tennis, this measure has been put in place to help build academic excellence and pave way for opportunities for the girl child.
“Parents, don’t force your girls into marriages because of the pandemic, it disrupts their education. Your children have dreams, support them to get back to school. Girls, the outbreak of the virus is not a reason to drop out of school. Staying home because of this will limit your opportunities. Stigmatization should not prevent out from going back to school. Wake up now, return to school, education is the key”, she wrote.
However, with regards to the outcome of the Conference of Heads of Basic Schools (COHBS) meeting with the Ghana Education Service, JHS has been converted to a semester system to be aligned with the SHS system whereas KG1-B6 will continue with the trimester system. KG-B6 and JHS will start classes from 8:00 am to 12 pm and 8:00 am to 3:00 pm respectively.
Meanwhile, a shift system is set to be considered in some highly populated schools whereby directors of the various districts will be empowered to take of events. School managers are however urged to contact facilities like the churches, mosques, et’al to allow them to send pupils into them for teaching and learning.
