It's too late to shut down schools but we can prevent the worse - Educationalist

An educationalist, Mr. Samuel Richard Ziggah has advised parents to exercise patience and avoid rushing to the various senior high schools to pick their wards after some schools recorded cases of the coronavirus.

This he explained is dangerous and could threaten the safety of others.

"If you rush to the schools and withdraw your wards from school without any proper testing, you could spread the virus in your family and threaten the lives of other people. What the parents should understand is that, their wards are like soldiers in a war front. They only thing needed now is for them to pray for their wards. If the worse happens, we can only console those affected,” he opined.

He has further advised the government to marshall health workers and, send them to all our secondary schools so they will embark on a massive test and isolate all those who will test positive. Because psychologically, students are frustrated and anxious. It has affected teaching and learning. Preparing for their exams will be difficult. Teachers are scared, students are scared.

He has warned authorities to prepare for the worse in our secondary schools if the needed measures are not put in place.

Meanwhile, he has described the interdiction of the headmistress of KNUST Senior High as useless.

He posited the management of the school cannot be blamed for the death of the student who was reportedly left to die over COVID-19 fears.

The educationist told host Kwabena Agyapong that fear is deep-rooted in Ghanaians and due to that it would be difficult for people to offer help even at the slightest suspicion of COVID-19.

To him, if the government had put in place the measures to contain the spread in our secondary schools, we would not have recorded the cases in our schools.



The headmistress he added should not be blamed for what happened.

"You cannot blame the teachers and the headmistress. They need to protect their lives first,” he said.

The Headmistress of the KNUST Senior High School in Kumasi has been asked to sept aside following the death of a final year business student of the school.

A statement issued and signed by the Head of Public Relations Unit at the Ghana Education Service, Cassandra Twum Ampofo said the headmistress, Felicia Asamoah Dankwaa is to step aside for the Ashanti Regional Director of Education to take over the administration of the school.

An investigation into the circumstances that led to the death of the final year student of the school on Tuesday, July 7, 2020, has started.

The final year student, Richard Leonard Sam died hours after he was sent to a medical facility after complaining of stomach ache last Monday, July 6, 2020.

His death sparked a protest by some angry students who blamed the management of the school for the student’s death.

Mr. Ziggah is a lecturer of the Department of Psychology and Education at the University of Education, Winneba.