Bolgatanga Technical University puts in place coronavirus taskforce as schools re-open

The Management of the Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) in the Upper East Region has put in place a COVID-19 Taskforce tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the students of the school adhere strictly to the COVID-19 safety protocols.

The University which would be re-opening on next week Monday is expected to admit 1000 fresh students in addition to the about 1000 continues students. Professor Samuel Erasmus Alnaa, the Interim Vice-Chancellor of the (BTU), made this disclosure to some journalists in the region on Saturday who wanted to know about the arrangements put in place by the University to help curb the spread of the pandemic.

“The Management of this University will not compromise on its efforts at ensuring that the students of the school adhere strictly to the COVID-19 safety protocols”, Professor Alnaa stressed.

He stated that the COVID-19 Taskforce would strictly enforce the COVID-19 adherence safety protocols by ensuring that it becomes mandatory for all the students of the University including Senior and Junior members to wear nose masks before being allowed on campus to attend lectures and other official duties.

"The COVID-19 Taskforce will also ensure that the sitting arrangements in lecture halls are given more space in addition to the procurement of washing facilities and soap and COVID- 19 Temperature Machines placed at vantage points for easy accessibility," Professor Alnaa stressed.

The Interim Vice Chancellor who thanked Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a Waste Management Company for following President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announcement for all schools including tertiary levels to be fumigated and disinfected before resumption, said Management of the BTU had benefited from such intervention and are so happy.

He, therefore, allayed the fears of students and parents about students safety on campus and cautioned the students to ensure that they adhere strictly to all the pandemic protocols while staying on campus.

The Interim Vice Chancellor stated that before the conversion of the Polytechnic into a Technical University, the school enrolment figures used to be about 500 but had now doubled and attributed the trend to the Government’s conversion of the School into technical university coupled with the Government’s Free Senior High School Policy as well as the introduction of new programmes by the University.