Coronavirus: Schools wouldn't reopen now if I were President - Educationist

A seasoned Ghanaian Educationist, Anis Haffer has said that: “If I were president, I would not open the schools at this time”.

His comment is coming at a time that the government is planning on easing restrictions on public gathering.

During the Eid celebrations over the weekend, President Akufo-Addo signalled that consultations on easing restrictions were ongoing while adding that citizens cannot remain under lockdown forever.

Already private schools are mounting pressure on the government to reopen schools by June next month.

In a proposal to the Ghana Education Service, the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) and the Conference of Heads of Private Secondary Schools (CHOPSS) are jointly of the view that safety mechanisms ought to be rolled out rapidly to pave the way for, at least, final-year students in all senior high schools to resume school.

However, delivering a lecture at a virtual forum organized by the Rotary Club of Accra Airport District on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on education, Mr Haffer indicated that the safety of school children should be paramount in determining whether or not schools should reopen.

“As a parent, I'll be very uncomfortable tossing my kid up into the jungle, a jungle meaning where there are a whole bunch of people who are elbowing each other and that sort of thing because now if we want to begin to look at even social distancing if we don't prepare for those things, why do we want to put kids in apprehension of their safety?"

“The issue is how safe are you?” That is the question and the second one is, have we created a conducive environment in which health is number one prerogative? As the president said, we can solve our economic problems, but when the person is dead, we cannot bring them back to life. What I'm saying is, if I were president, I would not open the schools at this time,” Mr Haffer stated.

The Educationist also called for enhanced COVID-19 tests between now and September which will then inform the government on the next step to follow.