Students must stay in school - Catholic Bishop President

Most Rev. Philip Naameh, President of the Ghana Catholic Bishop Conference has said it will be in the interest of the larger public if senior high school students are allowed to remain in school in spite of some of them testing positive for the virus.

He told Kwabena Bobie Ansah on the Citizen show on Accra 100.5FM Wednesday July 15 that when the students are allowed to go back home, it is likely that those that are infected yet unaware, will spread the virus among their families.

This situation, he said, will rather worsen the situation.

To that end, he suggested that the students should be allowed to remain on campus and be tested for the virus then those who will test positive will be isolated and be treated.

There have been calls for the government to close down schools after some SHS students tested positive for the virus.

But Most Rev Phillip Naameh thinks otherwise.

He said : “If the students in school are tested and they get to know who is positive and negative, If they isolate the positives and treat them, then where they are is the best place for them to be .

“That is the best thing you can do for them. Because if you send them home without testing them those that are positive will be a bid risk to their family members because they don’t know their situation.

“But if they are tested in the school and they isolate those that are positive and they treat them and after some time they test negative then the school will be the best place for them to be until they write the exams.

“If you send them back home without testing them, some are asymptomatic, it doesn’t mean they don’t have the virus, and they go home they will start infecting their family members.

“So it is in the interest of the children themselves that they get tested in school and be treated if they are positive.”