Schools Told To Run Shift System

Basic schools will henceforth, run the shift system, a Ministry of Education, Science and Sports directive to all districts, has said.

Sector Minister, Papa Owusu Ankomah, who announced the government’s decision in Kumasi on Monday, said it was as a result of the unprecedented increase in enrolment following the introduction of the Capitation Grant.

In the shift system, two batches of pupils attend school, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

Papa Ankomah was speaking at the 13th annual conference of District Directors of Education.

He said the capitation grant as well as other policy measures by the government had brought mixed blessings to the education sector.

He said the problem of inadequate classrooms, inadequate supply of teachers and less motivated teaching staff in the country’s schools and colleges had precipitated the need to revert to the shift system.

Papa Ankomah suggested the use of community centres and other public meeting places as temporary classrooms to cater for the high enrolment in the various schools.

He however said a number of semi-permanent classrooms would be constructed in rapid response to the problem of over crowding, under a special programme to provide classrooms for about 1400 schools throughout the country.

These and several other interventions he hoped would mitigate the shock of the current challenges in the sector.

Papa Ankomah cautioned parents not to see the Capitation Grant, as a replacement for their responsibility towards the education of their children.

He said the grant is to provide the minimum support to ensure that all children of school going age get access to education.

Touching on salaries and conditions of service for teachers, Papa Ankomah said the government wants to see the industrial impasse in sections of the educational sector and the public sector as a whole resolved by "fashioning out a more acceptable and equitable salary levels and other conditions of service within the constraint of the national economy."

The government was therefore evolving a more comprehensive review of the salaries of teachers and other public sector workers in a more holistic and sustainable manner devoid of any distortion, he said.

He reiterated his appeal to the members of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) to rescind their decision and return to the classroom to help their students.

The National President of CODDE, Eddy Obeng-Darko, added his voice to the numerous calls on NAGRAT to call off the strike.

He noted that many precious hours for teaching and learning had been lost as a result of the strike by NAGRAT, now spreading to include even non-graduate teachers.

"Students are crying for your attention, parents are on their knees begging you, and the whole President of the Republic is pleading for your return to the classrooms," he stated.