<<Print>>

President Nana Akufo-Addo, in his 16th update on COVID-19 situation in Ghana, announced that Junior High and Senior High Form 1 students as well as Primary and Kindergaten pupils will stay home till next year.

"The Ghana Education Service, after further consultations, has decided to postpone the remainder of the academic year for all nursery, kindergarten, primary, JHS 1 and SHS 1 students. The next academic year will resume in January 2021, with appropriate adjustments made to the curriculum, to ensure that nothing is lost from the previous year," the President said.

Already, both public and private school teaching and non-teaching staff as well as the school children have been home for six months since the schools were closed in March this year.

The new directive means they will have to wait for another four months in hope that the schools will be reopened.

Although public schools will be affected by this decision, private schools are most affected because unlike the public school teachers who will be remunerated while they are at home, a lot of the private teachers will forfeit their salaries for months.

It is in view of this challenge that the Central Regional Minister is calling on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to make available a relief package for the private schools and their teaching staff.

Speaking on ''Kokrokoo'' on Peace FM, Kwamena Duncan appealed to the Director-General of the GES, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa to have a meeting with the Education Ministry and devise ways to financially support the private teachers in these difficult times.

"There could be a way to support the private schools because whether you like it or not, they have a major role to play in the educational sector," he said.