We’ll not rush to reopen schools without adequate preparation – Ministry of Education PRO

The Public Relations Officer for the Ministry of Education, Ekow Vincent Assafuah has stated that the ministry knows the repercussions of reopening schools without putting systems in place to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

He made the statement in reaction to the Teacher Unions’ outlined terms and conditions to the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry Education under which the authorities can reopen schools.

“In the instances where the president decides that schools should reopen, we will not reopen it without putting systems in place to control the pandemic. There are a lot of things we will do before we reopen schools when we deem fit to reopen,” he said in an interview with EK Wallace on Asempa FM, monitored by GhanaWeb.

He also added that the ministry will have to use the World Health Organization’s directives to curb the spread of the virus in schools, if they decide to reopen them.

“We have to use other specific World Health Organization protocols to help prevent any problems in the reopening of schools. Now as we speak nobody knows when coronavirus is going to end. So if it will end in the next two, three years, does it mean we will have to keep our schools shut for the next three years? If it will continue for the next 10 years, does it mean that we will keep our schools shut?” he said.

He maintained that the impact of reopening schools in the country have to be weighed before the decision is finally taken by the government.

“Whether or not we would reopen schools, we have to look at the political impact, the economic impact, and the educational impact. If you’re looking at the educational impact, you’ll ask, ‘for how long can we keep our kids in the house, just because there’s coronavirus?’ Proposals are being made for the president to consider, how things will be done if we reopen the schools,” he concluded.