Coronavirus: Consider student population before reopening of schools – Kofi Adams to govt

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) aspirant in the Buem Constituency of the Volta Region, Kofi Adams has asserted that if schools are reopened without any infrastructural development, the basic schools will have to go back to the old shift system.

According to him, this will be a huge setback for the country as the NDC’s work will be rendered useless if this happens.

Kofi Adams made this indication in an interview on Happy 98.9 FM’s Epa Hoa Daben with host, Afrifa Mensah. “How are you going to reopen Basic and Junior High Schools when we have not built any new infrastructure? The schools were already populated before COVID-19 and if the gov’t wants to open schools now there will be problems.”

Being practical, the astute politician noted that if the Basic and secondary schools are to be reopened, the government will have no option than to run a shift system because of the huge populations of these schools. “This is the problem we will face because we have no infrastructure to create smaller class sizes.”

In his opinion, the government has capped the money the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GetFund) would have supported these schools with in times like these and has given rise to the shift time once again if the schools are reopened now. “The Basic and Junior High Schools will suffer in this case.”

The former national organizer of the NDC does not even believe kids will obey preventive measures and directives when schools are reopened. “How can kids stay in school wearing face masks for the entire day?” he asked. He continued that the discomfort the kids will even face can lead to the disregard of these directives, hence, the further spread of the virus.

The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah revealed in an Instagram live Q&A session with Ghanaians that the President is in talks with stakeholders on reopening schools soon.

The government of Ghana closed down schools on March 16, 2020 and suspended public events to stop the spread of coronavirus.