Ghanaian Times: Policy on reopening of basic schools amid Coronavirus

We reported in yesterday’s issue of the Ghanaian Times an appeal to the government to reconsider the decision not to open all streams of schools in the country.

The appeal, which was made by the Executive Director of Child Rights International (CRI), Mr Bright Appiah, said allowing second-year students in both junior and senior high schools to resume classes, while the rest stayed at home had worse repercussions for children.

In a statement issued in Accra in apparent response to the government’s decision not to reopen basic schools due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr Appiah said the social structure that existed among families, the society and the entire nation had not changed to accommodate and provide the needed tuition for children at home.

Additionally, he explained that the corporate environment of the country had not adjusted its time lines to allow families to spend more time with their children at home.

The statement further argued that the media, especially television and social media did not have adequate educational programmes to aid children’s academic growth at home.

“The government, since March 16, closed all schools due to COVID-19 spread in the country but had since reopened tertiary institutions, senior and junior high schools,” it said.

However, the government has stated categorically that those basic schools would remain closed until further notice.

The decision of the government, we believe, is purely based on science and data and so just as it has been able to do for other segments of the educational ladder, the government would reopen the schools when the time is due.

Do not forget, in July, pre-tertiary teacher unions in Ghana held a press conference in Accra and called on the government to shut down schools due to COVID-19 spread in the schools a few weeks after reopening.

According to the teacher unions then, measures instituted by the authorities to ensure safety of both staff and students had not been implemented to prevent the spread of the disease.

The Ghanaian Times believes that information provided by the teacher unions is very useful and if any consideration is to be made for the reopening of the schools, these are some of the pieces of information which should be taken into account.

We think the government must consider the suggestion from CRI whilst it considers all the necessary protocols before reopening the schools.

We agree with CRI that keeping the schools closed may affect the children’s education in many ways but as we know it now, we are not in normal times and COVID-19 appears to have come to stay and may be with us for a long time.

It is, therefore, in our interest and that of our children to tread cautiously while instituting measures that would prevent the spread of COVID-19 when the schools reopen.

Do not forget the children must be alive to attend school.