Coronavirus: Close lower primary schools or finance the enforcement of protocols - Director of NGOs in Health to govt

The Executive Director of NGOs in Health, Dr Gabriel Benarku has called for the closure of schools at the lower primary level as Ghana struggles to manage the surge in active Covid-19 cases.

In an interview with GhanaWeb, Dr Benarku intimated that the government should have segregated students at the lower primary level and kept them at home instead of allowing all levels of education to resume simultaneously.

“There is no rush in allowing a very tender age child who cannot make an informed decision to be in school. We are in a situation where we have over 35 children in a class, you can imagine the risk this poses. There was a report of a student in the upper primary in the Upper East region who infected his class even at that stage where his level should match his thinking capacity.”

He implored on the government to review the reopening of schools by financing the enforcement of COVID-19 protocols.

“It is important that the country reorganises with much more force and resources to be able to curtail and reverse the situation. We are recommending that once schools are reopened, the government should finance the nose masks especially the clothes that were recommended by the Food and Drugs Authority.”

Dr Benarku also suggested peer education on COVID-19 be rolled out in all schools to remind the students of the dangers the virus poses.

Schools reopen amid surge in active coronavirus cases

Temperature checks and mandatory wearing of masks have been enforced in schools after ten months of closure. The shutdown of the academic calendar was in response to the outbreak of the coronavirus in March last year.
The country’s education ministry and other stakeholders are ensuring adherence to health protocols.

There have been mixed reactions as the government announced the reopening of schools. It comes as covid-19 cases have reportedly surged in the country.
The tally of infected people has tripled in a month, to 3,286 according to Ghana's Health Service. The overall figure of infections since the start of the pandemic is 60,794.