Provide logistics and implement coronavirus measures before re-opening schools - Education stakeholders to govt

Three stakeholders in the education sector have urged the government to ensure that all logistics and measures announced by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the re-opening of schools are provided and implemented accordingly.

According to the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Africa Education Watch, the timely distribution of the items would safeguard the safety of students and teachers.

In separate interviews with the Ghanaian Times yesterday, they said the personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand hygiene facilities should be provided before the schools re-open and they should be adequate for students and staff.

President Akufo-Addo on Sunday announced the re-opening of schools after about 10 months of closure in March last year, to help contain the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In his 21st address to the nation on measures taken against the spread of COVID-19, he said basic schools would resume on January 15, senior high school (SHS) 1 on March 10 and SHS 2 and SHS 3 students on January 18.

To ensure safety of students and staff of the schools, he said the institutions would be fumigated and disinfected, provided with PPE and have isolation centres to deal with any positive cases, amongst other measures.

Reacting to the news, the Vice President of NAGRAT, Jacob Anaba, welcomed the arrangement but called on the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to ensure that social distancing was observed.

In his view, an audit should be conducted to ascertain the space available to safely accommodate students while work on facilities should be expedited to create more space.

Mr Anaba also urged the government to ensure the free WiFi for schools was available at all schools to encourage the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in teaching, in line with the launch of such project last year.

He said the teachers were ready to start teaching to help bridge the knowledge deficit but “the government should ensure that the conditions are safe for conducive academic work.”

Although Kofi Asare, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, expressed satisfaction with the arrangement so far, he said the organisation was more concerned about re-enrolment of students, especially the girls.

He said with some being pregnant and others now victims of child labour, it was important that the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the GES strategically ensured that such students returned to school.

For his part, the General Secretary of the GNAT, Thomas Tanko Musah, called on all stakeholders to play their respective roles well to prevent outbreak of the virus in schools.

While the provision of PPE was important, he said, the sector ministry and the GES should go all out to secure the schools by ensuring that guidelines for management of schools were ready before they resumed.

“We are not in normal times and we are not expected to make decisions. We must ensure that the schools are secured because the virus is still with us,” he said.