JHS students to spend four hours in school during re-opening

Final year Junior High School (JHS) students preparing to write the Basic Education Certificate(BECE) are to spend four hours in school daily, with a maximum of 30 students in a class, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has said.

This forms part of the measures put in place by the GES against the spread of the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) as school re-opens on Monday, June 29.

Consequently, the GES has advised parents to feed their children adequately and provide for their snacks and fruits before coming to school.

Speaking at a stakeholder meeting at the Regional Coordinating Council in Cape Coast on Thursday, Mrs Martha Owusu Acheampong, Central Regional Director of the GES, said classes would start from 0900 hours to 1300 hours each day.

The meeting which was attended by MMDCEs, heads of senior and basic schools, Regional and District Health Directors, the Police and Heads of Department and Agencies was to establish clear cut operational instructions for the re-opening of Basic and Senior High Schools (SHS).

As part of the measures, the Education Director indicated that students would go through daily enhanced routine protocols before being allowed entry into their classrooms.

In addition to that, she said Water Sanitation and Health (WASH) facilities would be provided and positioned at vantage points in the schools while each student would be provided with three usable nose masks.

According to her, the students would be trained by the Ghana Health Service on the appropriate use of the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that would be provided.

Mrs Acheampong stressed that there will be no mass gathering, no religious activities, no sporting activities and no visitors during school hours.

Food vendors would also not be allowed to sell in the schools, saying it was to limit external contacts to check the spread of the virus.

The JHS students would spend eleven weeks for revision and one week to write the BECE, while the SHS would spend six weeks for revision and five weeks for the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

All schools both public and private would be fumigated and disinfected before their re-opening dates.

The ZoomLion Company Limited has so far fumigated over 100 SHS and 2,460 basic schools and disinfection is ongoing.

Mr Kwamena Duncan, Central Regional Minister, tasked the MMDCEs to strictly monitor the activities of the schools in their respective districts, to ensure that they complied with the safety and health protocols.