About seventeen (17) tertiary institutions are undergoing a massive disinfection exercise by govt
About seventeen (17) tertiary institutions are undergoing a massive disinfection exercise by government.
The exercise which is being spearheaded by waste management expert, Zoomlion Ghana Limited is to allow for students to return to school safely.
In this regard, parents have been assured that the schools environment was safe for the return of their wards.
Speaking to journalists after Zoomlion had finished the exercise, the Vice-Chancellor of Koforidua Technical University (KTU), Prof David Kofi Essuman, firmly assured parents that the intervention by the government and Zoomlion will make it safe for the students to return.
“We want to tell parents and guardians is we will work together with the students to ensure their safety against the virus.”
…and that we will do whatever it takes to protect their lives. Once they come, we will cooperate with them to ensure that they observe the COVID protocols”
The Communications and Corporate Affairs Director of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mrs Emma Akyea-Boakye, who led the team for the exercise in Koforidua, said 17 universities and over 2,000 basic schools and senior high schools (SHSs) would be disinfected in the Eastern Region.
"Zoomlion Ghana Limited is in Ashesi University to disinfect the school and the exercise will not only be conducted in Ashesi. We are all aware that the pandemic is still wreaking havoc in countries and we cannot take it for granted," she said.
She recounted that "when the President announced the reopening of all schools in Ghana including universities and pre-universities, it was important we have this project to disinfection the schools using water-based through atomizing procedures and other procedures that are used for disinfection," she explained.
Mrs Akyea-Boakye urged all school authorities and parents to ensure and enforce adherence to all COVID-19 safety protocols.
"The chemical we are using is chlorine-based, and it is approved by science and it is the same chemical we used the previous year which contributed to reducing the spread of the virus.”
To parents, she submitted: "if your child is going to school, in a day, give your child two nose masks, be it reusable or disposable, and make sure you give them the necessary education about the disease so that as they go to school, they will not be sharing their items with people."
The VC of KTU, Prof Essuman, the Administrator of Koforidua Nursing and Midwifery College, Koforidua, Kwame Yarnney, Ashesi University and other heads of schools took turns to praise Zoomlion’s collaboration with the central government since the outbreak of the virus in the country.
"Zoomlion has been helpful to us so as the government of Ghana. If you notice, we came to school for about 20 weeks but because of their support with disinfection, we at KTU never experienced any of COVID-19 outbreak. Now that we are coming to reopen on January, they are here again to disinfect our surfaces for us," Prof Essuman expressed.
