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The Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) has asked Ghana Education Service (GES) to reconsider its decision to sack all pupil teachers and rather give them ample time to upgrade themselves, else the rippling effect would overwhelm the education sector. It described the decision by GES as unwarranted and unacceptable. �The question is if 30,000 pupil teachers are to be sacked by GES, do we have 30,000 professionals to replace them immediately?� the President of CCT, Mr Ernest Opoku, asked at a news conference in Accra. Background Last month, GES issued a statement saying it had terminated the appointment of pupil teachers across the country. The action, the service said, had been taken because the affected teachers had failed to upgrade themselves. The acting Director-General of GES, Mr Charles Aheto Tsegah said the dismissed pupil teachers would be replaced by trained teachers. The decision did not go down well with some educational pundits because the country did not have enough trained teachers to replace the pupil teachers. Reaction Mr Opoku said while GES�s reason for the decision was, among others, to ensure that professional teachers took over from the pupil teachers, the service should rather have given a window of opportunity to the pupil teachers to upgrade themselves. He reminded all that when professional teachers refused postings to the rural areas, it was pupil teachers who held the fort, for which reason he said Ghana�s pupil teachers were assets and must be celebrated. WASSCE results Touching on the 2014 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, Mr Opoku attributed the poor performance of the candidates to a number of issues. He mentioned the lack of teaching and learning materials, differences in the syllabus of the West African Examinations Council and that of GES, as well as the current academic calendar, as the key contributors to poor student performance. These issues, according to Mr Opoku, will continue to harm the delivery of quality education in Ghana if not tackled. Addressing the issues of the academic calendar, he said the current academic calendar, which starts from September and ends in September next year, did not favour students and teachers. Mr Opoku, therefore, suggested that the academic calendar be revised to start from April/May, adding that the dates for BECE should also be changed to suit the new academic calendar.