Covid-19: Education Service can’t reject Isolation Centers – DG GES

Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Prof Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, says his outfit has no reason to resist the use of some Senior High schools as Covid-19 isolation centres once all safety precautions have been satisfied.

At the launch of a national disinfection and fumigation exercise of all private and public senior high schools in the country, he stated that the nation is in a state of emergency hence national facilities such as schools could be used to help contain the spread of the virus.

“If they need to disinfect the place before, during and after the quarantine and whatever precautions that they need, they have to take them so that when we finally come to use it, we can still conveniently do so,”

This comes after teachers of St Augustine College and some residents of Cape Coast in the Central Region kicked against the idea of making the school an isolation centre on Thursday, April 9.

That very day, residents of Effutu were also agitated and vehemently protested against the Ghana Health Service’s decision to use the Effutu Senior High school as an isolation centre, the reason being that they could be infected by the virus.

However, Prof Opoku-Amankwah allayed the fears of teachers who live on campus that, the health expects will ensure that the right thing is done so there is no need to fear when their school is selected as an isolation centre.

Speaking about the effect of Covid-19 on the academic calendar, the GES Director-General said he is uncertain about when schools in the country will reopen as the coronavirus pandemic rages on.

He was however hopeful that the virus will be contained globally for everyone to return to their normal lives.

“We need to know that the Covid-19 pandemic is not a national issue but global as well, so when we [Ghana] are ready, others may not be ready and it may not be prudent for us to go ahead but we are just hoping that within the shortest possible time, we will get over it.”

He then called on parents and guardians to engage themselves in their children’s education whilst at home, so that they do not take their minds off their books.

“We feel that there is the need for us to provide some basic learning opportunities for our students. So we have engaged some media house to give us airtime, as part of their social responsibility to broadcast some of our programmes,” he added.

Education Minister, Matthew Opoku-Prempeh on his part said the exercise will get rid of rodents and reptiles in the schools and also deal with the threats of Covid-19.

“We should understand that some of our schools are been used as hold up base for some people who are recovering or with Covid-19.

“And before students get back into school, we have to ensure that we disinfect all those institutions against possible coronavirus,” he said.