Pupils clean up schools on first day of reopening

Excited primary school pupils in Garu, Upper East Region, have spent the first day at school weeding and cleaning their school compounds in readiness to resume learning next week.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency at the premises of the Garu Presbyterian Primary School, Mrs Paulina Abuguri, the Headmistress said the school needed a clean up after the long break.

The pupils were working hard to get the grounds ready for teaching and learning.

She said active classes would start next Tuesday, January 18, 2021, because the required number of pupils were not available for classes to begin.

She said COVID-19 affected the academic calendar because the first term was supposed to have started in September but that was postponed until now.

She said her prayer was that the students would not forget what they had learnt in the past years before the break.

The Headmistress said the school had not been given Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the pupils and all teaching and learning materials were inadequate.

“So we are expecting the District Directorate to either provide us with some or inform us on the next line of action to take,” she added.

She urged the pupils to ensure they had their nose masks on when they reported to school next week.

She said the school would ensure that the pupils were educated properly on COVID-19 so they would understand why they needed to take the protocols seriously.

Miss Seida Zekiha, a student of the Garu Presbyterian Junior high school, said she was happy that the government gave them the go-ahead to go to school.

She said COVID-19 was not so prevalent in the Garu area so she and her colleagues used to do group studies.

Miss Belinda Awini, on the other hand, said due to COVID-19 she had forgotten everything that was taught before they went home for the break.

She appealed to the government to provide the school with teaching and learning materials.

Miss Awini said the furniture in the school was not enough and many of them had to share seats, sitting too close to each other thereby finding it difficult to concentrate and learn.