Private schools urge government not to close down schools

The Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) urges Government to stick to its advertised schedule for final year senior high and junior high school candidates who are back in school to write their exit examinations.

GNAPS believes that final year students should remain in school rather than being sent home on account of reported cases of Covid-19 in some public schools.

However, Government must endeavour to supply a second round of personal protective equipments (PPEs) to students and staff to assist in staving off the virus from schools until candidates write their exit examinations. The Association’s call for the supply of more PPEs is informed by the realization that students’ continuous washing of the face masks provided by Government is wearing off the materials which would soon be unusable. Besides, the sanitizers and other Covid-19 consumables are depleting fast with daily use. GNAPS fears that when these items run out, enforcing the safety protocols among students will be an arduous task, resulting in a spread of the virus before students write their exit examinations and return home.

GNAPS assures all parents and guardians that private schools are strictly abiding by the safety protocols to prevent students contracting the virus. Therefore, private schools are safe havens for final year students. This is borne by the fact that this far, there has not been any confirmed positive case of the virus in any GNAPS-member school.

Also, our decision for schools to remain open is borne by the expert opinion of the Ghana Health Service and the Ministry of Health to the effect that sending students home may lead to further spread of the virus by infected students to their various homes and communities. Besides, if schools get adequate supply of PPEs and school authorities enforce safety protocols to the letter, we can contain further spread of the virus in schools even as we salvage our academic system from the eminent distress that it will suffer if students are sent back home.

We wish to assure government of the commitment of private schools towards strict adherence to the Covid-19 protocols, and the Ministry of Education’s guidelines for reopening of schools. As an Association, we shall closely monitor the operations of our member schools to enforce social distancing in classrooms, dormitories and dining halls, the wearing of face masks as well as washing and sanitizing of hands among observance of other protocols.