We never promised to provide health personnel for schools – Education Ministry

The Ministry of Education has reacted to the appeal by the National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations to send home all Senior High School (SHS) students to prevent the further spread of the deadly COVID-19 by stating that some concerns are speculative.

In an interview with Kwame Afrifa Mensah on the ‘Epa Hoa Daben’ show, the Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Education, Kwesi Obeng Fosu has said that the statement by the Association indicating that the Government promised to provide health personnel at the various schools is untrue.

He, explained: “We directed that some classrooms should be set aside for isolation centres.If a student shows symptoms, isolate the student immediately and call the health facility that has been mapped to your school. We have provided ambulance numbers for the school authorities to call when such situations occur. We never promised to bring health personnel to the schools as they have mentioned in their statement. The President stated that all schools have been mapped to a health facility. So you will have to contact the medical experts when you suspect a COVID-19 case. Yours is to isolate those suspected to have COVID-19 cases”.

Kwesi Obeng Fosu opined that the narrative must focus on the good practices adopted to ensure that they prevent the spread of the disease instead of focusing on negative stories.

A statement issued by the NCPTAs and signed by its National President, Mr. Alexander Yaw Danso, on Monday, 13 July 2020, stated that parents had observed some disturbing happenings since the schools reopened.

According to the Association, some schools had not received the PPEs promised by the Government, there are not enough health workers stationed at the schools and students are not adhering to the COVID-19 safety protocols.

The NCPTAs furthered that its “fear, again, has to do with the voter registration exercise in the schools, which has the tendency to compromise the safety of our children because many more people would be allowed entry into the schools. This is rather worrying, as parents are barred from seeing their children for the reason of minimizing the spread of the Coronavirus to safeguard the precious lives of these young ones.”

The decision to reopen schools has over the weeks been fiercely opposed by civil society organizations, parents and political parties with a request to reverse the decision to reopen schools.