The Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, says the decision to return to the trimester system for basic schools was solely to appease teachers, who had reservations about the semester system.

Explaining the rationale behind the turnaround on the Citi Breakfast Show, Dr. Adutwum said there were no substantial merits to picking either system.

The directive for basic schools, including Kindergarten, and Junior High Schools, to change the trimester-based calendar to a semester-based sparked opposition from teacher unions.

The unions were also upset that they had not been consulted, although government said the reps of the unions had been engaged.

“If going a trimester is what would make them happy since we are going to attain the same goal at the same number of weeks, why not… I didn’t find it difficult at all to say that I would be on the side of the teachers who believe the trimester was better,” Dr. Adutwum said.

Aside from appeasing the teachers, the Minister also said choosing between the two systems was a matter of convenience.

“In this particular instance, there is no research that says that the semester is better than a trimester. It is just used for convenience around the world.”

“Some of these things are based on convenience. It doesn’t say that once you do a trimester, it is a silver bullet.”