Do not panic - Former Education Minister to parents

A former deputy Minister of Education under the John Mahama administration, Alex Kyeremeh, has added his voice to the many assurances by authorities that children returning to school amidst the rising numbers of coronavirus cases should not be entirely worried.

He said that although cases have been on the ascendency lately, concerns by parents, alike students as they return to school, the fact that only last year, final year students returned to school to write their West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) without any major fallouts, should put them at rest.

“If we consider how things turned out when our children who went back to school last year to write their WASSCE, parents had the same doubts and fears but by the grace of God, everything went well and they returned home safe,” he explained.

He stressed that while the situation in Ghana is taking a spike, it is not the only country being affected by the virus across the world. He, therefore, allayed fears of the parents, calling on all to be extra vigilant in their dealings.

“It is unclear exactly what measures have been put in place for the students but parents should not panic because I believe that whatever measures they are, and with the supervision of their teachers, the children will be safe,” he said.

He said that parents should exercise patience until perhaps a few days after the children are in school so that they can give a good assessment of how things are being handled in the schools, and for their children.

Besides, he said, the children cannot continue to stay at home indefinitely and the only way out is to mount pressure on authorities to put in the right interventions to ensure that everybody within the brackets of academia is protected.

Alex Kyeremeh was speaking on Ade Akye Abia on Okay FM in Accra.