The attention of the Unions in Education has been drawn to a document in the public domain purported to have changed from a trimester to a semester academic calendar by the GES.
Such a major policy change should have attracted a wide consultation and therefore find both the pronouncement and the document offensive and takes exception to them.
They state emphatically, that at no point in time were the Unions in Education consulted on such a major policy decision. The major issues emanating from the unilateral decision by the GES are as follows:
1) The hours workers in Education require to work per day and per week have been a bother to Unions especially when instructional and working hours have been increased unilaterally without discussion and negotiations especially with the Unions in Education.
2) Per their Collective Agreement with regards to the working Conditions, major policies such as this should come for discussion and negotiation.
3) As Educators and speaking from a professional point of view, thorough discussion will bring to the fore the effects of a long school calendar on both teaching and learning and also on the health of both workers and learners.
4) The Unions in Education sees the decision taken to unilaterally change the school calendar into a semester one as arbitrary and an imposition by the GES on major stakeholders of which the Unions in Education are part.
They, therefore, call on the GES to immediately withdraw the policy, pending full consultations with the Unions in Education and other major stakeholders and do serve notice, that failure to do so would be resisted fiercely.