Coronavirus: Accra Girls' students were more than ready to reintegrate recovered colleagues – Okoe Boye

Contrary to reports of growing concerns about the state of mind of the final year senior high school students getting ready to write their examinations in the face of a surge in cases of the Coronavirus, it appears the students themselves harbour no such worries.

The assertion is according to the Deputy Health Minister, Dr Bernard Okoe Boye.

Recounting how some excited Accra Girls’ students welcomed their colleagues who were being bused to the school after recovering from the Coronavirus, Dr Okoe Boye averred that it clearly showed their readiness to reintegrate them into the system.

“…there’s a video I’ve seen from Accra Girls when they brought those seven students that had recovered. It will amaze you, I got goose pimples when I watched.

You could see that these were students who were more than ready to welcome and reintegrate their colleagues, and were celebrating like soldiers that had gone to war and won the battle. That is the state of mind… you could see them shouting at the arrival of the bus… running to the bus to pick their friends and bring them back to school,” he stated on JoyNews’ Newsfile Saturday.

The Deputy Health Minister was reacting to claims that students in senior high schools were not in the right frame of mind stemming from growing reports of outbreaks of the Coronavirus.

He added that parents who were keen to withdraw their wards had little information on the situation on the ground as well as the dynamics of the spread of the pandemic.

“Anytime I see a parent who expresses worry, there are two things; immediately I know that I need to give more information because insufficient information on the dynamics of the virus is a foundation for panic and anxiety. So, we are not in a hurry to contest or fight people who say, why not close the schools. We have to give more education, so they appreciate what is happening,” Dr Okoe Boye explained.

There is growing pressure on the government to close down schools following new cases of the coronavirus among students and staff of senior high schools in some parts of the country.

Members of the opposition NDC have accused the Akufo-Addo-led government of politicising the Coronavirus pandemic. According to them, the Electoral Commission was given the green light to carry out the voters registration exercise to enable senior high school students to be able to vote in the December polls.

They claim that schools were reopened by the President to facilitate this agenda, and not because of the upcoming West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).