Stop putting exams ahead of lives – GMA to GES

The Ashanti regional chairman of the Ghana Medica Association (GMA) Dr Paa Kwasi Baidoo has appealed to the Ghana Education Service to reconsider the decision to put students in schools despite the creeping cases of COVID-19 in secondary schools.

According to him, it is surprising to see how Ghana insists on keeping students in school when other countries including Nigeria have pulled out of this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

Speaking to Francis Abban on the Morning Starr Thursday, Dr Baidoo said the Ghana Education Service is putting lives at risk.

“Is the exams we are conducting worth the life of our students? you don’t have to have an entire school testing positive before you think it is serious. In Ghana, we think the examination is more important than the life of our students when Nigeria has pulled out of the exams. The loss of that student at KNUST SHS is shameful to a country like Ghana,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has served notice SHS students whose parents have picked them from campuses over COVID-19 fears will be isolated during exams.

According to the Chairman of the GES Council Michael Nsowah, the intention of the planned action is to ensure that the students coming from home do not put their colleagues who stayed on campus at risk.

The comments come after scores of parents trooped to several schools to pick their wards after reports of coronavirus outbreak some schools in the country.

“If we are unable to contain the pandemic in schools and send the students home, are we not endangering the general community? Parents are free to take their children home but when the time comes for exams, they [students] will be isolated,” he told Starr News.