Ghana final year second cycle students return to school

22 Juin 2020

Accra, Ghana, June 22 (Infosplusgabon) - Final year Senior High School students and the second batch of second year students in Ghana return to school on Monday in the second step of a phased reopening of schools in the West African country.

The final year students will prepare for and write their exit examinations while the second batch of second year students will complete their first semester programme which was disrupted by the closure of schools because of the COVID-19 (coronavirus).

They follow final year universities and other tertiary institutions who returned to school last Monday to write their exit examinations.

Ghana's President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 12th broadcast since the virus emerged in Ghana in March, said adequate measures have been put in place to protect the students, teachers and non-teaching staff although the confirmed cases have been increasing.

He said all 1,167 SHSs have been fumigated and disinfected; each student, teaching and non-teaching staff, invigilators and school administrators, numbering some 800,000 will be provided with three reusable face masks.

As in the case of the universities and tertiary institutions, buckets with pipes, sanitizers, tissue paper, liquid soap, and thermometer guns have been distributed to all schools.

The class sizes have been reduced to a maximum of 25 students; all day students in schools with boarding houses will be resident in these boarding houses, whilst day students, in schools without boarding facilities, will commute from home; eating in dining halls will be in appropriate numbers; and no visitors to the schools will be allowed.

"There will be no mass gatherings and no sporting activities. Religious activities, under the new protocols, will be permitted. Social distancing and the wearing of face masks are obligatory in our schools," he said.

One dormitory block in each senior high school is to be used as an isolation centre, while each SHS has been mapped to a health facility.

The president said enough food supplies have been distributed to all schools while the Government is also making available 350 buses and 840 pickup vehicles to senior high schools that did not receive vehicles in 2016 while the examination fees of the students have been absorbed by the government. Ghana has a policy of free SHS education.

President Akufo-Addo said as at Saturday, Ghana had 14,154 positive cases out of 270,300 tests. He added that 10,473 have recovered while there are 85 patients have succumbed to the disease.

But he assured all parents and guardians that Government is determined to protect the lives of all students, teachers and school authorities.

On the unhealthy attitude of the poeple to the oandemic, he again asked the general public to adhere to sanitary protocols and warned that wearing of face mask is obligatory and those arrested without them will face stiff penalties.

The president also asked the general public to end stigmatisation of those who have recovered saying "there is nothing shameful about contracting the virus". He added: "We do not have to lose our sense of community because of this pandemic."

He said further investments will be made in several areas: additional ICU bed facilities in the Greater Accra Region; a new treatment centre in Ashanti Region; additional laboratories to strengthen clinical care to allow for real time results; more medicines, consumables and equipment; and a formal arrangements for a pool of specialist health professionals to complement the respective resident multi-disciplinary health teams at various treatment centres.

FIN/ INFOSPLUSGABON/ZTR/GABON2020

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