Government empowers NCCE to fight against coronavirus

In accordance to President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s determination to curtail the spread of COVID-19, government on Tuesday empowered the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to continue in its efforts.

Government has donated: 10,000 face masks; 10,000 examination gloves; 40 gallons of hand sanitizer; 40 gallons of rubbing alcohol; 20 thermometer guns; 360 pieces of cocoa drink; and 90 packets of tissue rolls to the NCCE. President Akufo-Addo, in his 9th address to the nation, pledged to empower the NCCE as a frontline civic educator to lead the process of public education across the country.

Dr Bernard Okoe Boye, Deputy Minister of Health, who presented the Personal Protective Equipment to the Commission, said it is to help them further educate and disseminate information on COVID-19 to the general public.

The Deputy Minister extended government’s appreciation to the NCCE for being innovative and proactive rather than reactive in the fight against COVID-19. “I hope this will go a long way to support you in your drive to help Ghanaians observe the protocols; wash their hands and keep the distance,” Dr Okoe-Boye said.

Ms Josephine Nkrumah, NCCE Chairperson, who received the donation, commended Government for empowering its frontline civic educators to enter into the communities, markets, lorry parks, and any other human habitats to disarm COVID-19 through accelerated public education.

“I want to assure the Ministry and the good people of Ghana that these Personal Protective Equipment will be put to good use and in the next few days, you’ll hear a lot more of what NCCE is doing,” the Chairman added.

Ms Nkrumah also asked other partners who consider civic education as one of the core drivers in the fight against COVID-19 to donate whatever they could, especially in terms of logistics.

“Mobility is a key challenge for the Commission. Institutions that have vehicles or would like to lend those vehicles to the Commission for this period, we would most certainly welcome such support,” she said.

Ms Nkrumah said “COVID-19 can be defeated through effective communication, if we fail to comprehensively educate our people to understand the need to adhere to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Ghana Health Service preventive protocols then COVID-19 will continue to spread.

She said the NCCE is undertaking the campaign dubbed: NCCE Anti-COVID-19 Public Education Campaign and it is being supported by the Church of Pentecost, who has provided a mobile cinema van to sensitise people across country.

She said the focus of the NCCE broader COVID-19 communication strategy is to arm the citizenry with knowledge, expose the operational modalities of the enemy COVID-19 and strengthen each individual not to fear but stand firm and observe all the protocols rigorously.

She said as civic educators, we are helping the people to understand President Akufo-Addo’s measures and directives put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

She also called for massive support for the NCCE to intensify the public education on COVID-19 which must be relentless to ensure that “we all understand, so we need to educate people in the local language they understand best, and break down the COVID-19 jargons to the lowest level for people to appreciate”.