Health consideration will be key in deciding whether or not to reopen schools – Dr. Adutwum

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Deputy Education Minister in charge of Basic and Secondary Education, says the Ghana Education Service (GES) is currently engaging stakeholders on a possible reopening of schools.

Schools were closed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as part of the measures to curtail the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

The president placed a ban on all gatherings including political rallies, church service and large funerals over the pandemic.

Regarding a possible reopening of schools, Dr Adutwum told Alfred Ocansey on the Sunrise Show on 3FM Wednesday, May 20, that the decision, apart from the assessment and engagement by the GES, will also largely depend on health considerations.

He said: “The GES has started engagement, they will be meeting with teacher unions and other groups to solicit their inputs.

“Of course the critical decisions wont come from education, it will come from health, just like in the US where the Centre for Disease Control (CDC ) gave a broad stroke of a kind of a policy and said this has to prevail, this has to be there.

“So that whether public or private you can’t just wake up and say you have reopened schools without meeting certain requirements that will be transparent so that a parent will have confidence.

“This is not a monologue, it has to be a dialogue because you have so many people involved in here.

“GES is not blindfolded by the reality of the situation and of course they cannot just jump and reopen schools without a thorough analysis at the highest level of government.

“I don’t think anyone is going to reopen schools where there is no veronica buckets, there are no running water so we are gathering ideas and concern.”