Some parents in the Cape Coast Metropolis have added their voice to the call by teacher unions in the country that government should suspend the immediate reopening of schools. According to them, the safety of their children cannot be guaranteed if they are allowed to go back to school anytime soon because the country has not yet had a full grasp of the Covid19 pandemic.
One of the parents who spoke to ATL FMNEWS said “I’m not in support of schools reopening now. With the number of cases increasing by day, I do not think it is advisable for the government to reopen schools now”.
Another said “I do not think it is appropriate because the disease has not come to its minimal stage yet so there is the need to be patient. When the numbers go down we can reopen”.
President Akufo-Addo on March 16, 2020 closed all schools to control the spread of the Covid19 pandemic but the Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah on Monday revealed that government is looking at reopening schools soon. He noted the government has started receiving proposals from stakeholders including educational institutions on preparations made so far to protect students and teachers should schools reopen.
The Ghana National Association of Private Schools has been at the forefront pushing for schools to reopen anytime soon. According to them, the closure of schools has affected their businesses such that most of their teachers have been relieved off duty. The association says it is not able to pay its teachers and fears a further delay in the reopening will severely affect their source of livelihoods.
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Meanwhile, some teacher unions have expressed their resistance to any form of attempt by government to reopen schools soon. The President of National Association Graduate Teachers, Mr. Angel Carbonu says government should resist calls by faceless persons pushing for the reopening of schools amid the increasing cases of Covid19.
The groups insist that conditions are not safe for the reopening of schools given that the new coronavirus infection spread remains “very exponential” and “still very much horizontal” in the country.
He has also reiterated the need for Ghanaians to come to terms with learning to live with the virus and get accustomed to the new normal.
But minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has given assurance over the safety of citizens. He also noted, “When the minister of health said we are to live with the virus for a while it amounted to the custom of how to protect ourselves. It is one of the most honest and pragmatic statement we can ever make. We shouldn’t promote false hope or lie to people because we want people to feel good. When we started testing for Covid19, from the indications I got, some persons tested positive for H1N1 and that means H1N1 is still around floating in the system.”
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He indicated that “The world hasn’t found a cure or a vaccine but we have to put in place the necessary preventive etiquette which includes social distancing, wearing the mask and washing the hands frequently, technology-based, conference calls etc. There is a new life we all have to get used to”.
President Akufo Addo in his 9th televised address to the nation on the Covid 19 situation in the country, extended the ban on social gathering to the end of 31st May 2020.
Source: Lydia Sekyi Acquah/ATL FM NEWS
