Govt commended for disinfecting basic schools in Savannah Region

The disinfection of basic schools in the Savannah Region will help assuage fears of both pupils and teachers resulting from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in the region.

The Deputy Director-Supervision of Education, West-Gonja district in the Savannah Region, Katribi Dramani, made this observation during the disinfection of Yipala Junior High School (JHS) in the West-Gonja district.

With the disinfection exercise in the Savannah Region underway, both the final-year JHS pupils and teachers will be motivated and have the confidence to report to school on June 29 to prepare for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE), he said.

In this regard, he commended Zoomlion Ghana Limited for partnering with the central government to have all basic schools in the country disinfected.

According to Mr. Dramani, many of the teachers and pupils became even more excited when they got wind of the news that Zoomlion was coming to disinfect basic schools in the region. Zoomlion, he indicated, started the exercise on June 18 – adding that they have been able to disinfect about 74 basic schools out of 112 in the district.

He also said that the Ministry of Education is putting in place measures to help protect final-year JHS pupils against the COVID-19 disease. Consequently, he cautioned the final-year pupils to comply strictly with the president’s directives on the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the view of Mr. Dramani, the e-learning approach adopted by many of the schools in the region has not had much impact. He attributed this to the fact that many of the pupils and their parents do not have the necessary tools to support e-learning. He thus advised the pupils to fully cooperate with their teachers throughout the period they will be studying to write their final year examinations.

Meanwhile, heads of basic schools in the region were happy with the disinfection exercise in their schools.

According to them, the exercise was critical because it will not only keep their school spaces and facilities safe but equally protect their final-year JHS pupils to prepare and write their exit examinations safe from the virus.

The Headmaster of Larabanga JHS B, Mr. Saaka Dauda Iaward, could not hide his joy, and thus praised government and Zoomlion for the exercise. “I am very excited to see government engage Zoomlion to disinfect my school,” he expressed. He used the opportunity to appeal for philanthropists and corporate institutions in the region to support his school with Veronica buckets, nose masks, and alcohol-based hand sanitizers.