Kpone school children see eclipse as a myth

Kpone (GAR), March 27, GNA - With just two days to the eclipse of the sun, some school children at Kpone, near Tema, have expressed doubts about its occurrence as predicted.

They held that similar predictions, which were made at the end of 1999 about the world coming to an end, stone falling from heaven and computers losing their data in the year 2000 did not manifest. In an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Monday on the expected eclipse, some students of the Kpone Presbyterian A & B Junior Secondary School said even though their teachers had educated them on it, they did not believe it would happen, just as previous predictions failed.

Mrs Ernestina Narh, Head Mistress of the school, indicated that even though the students had been educated on the eclipse and its damaging effects on the naked eye, most of them were reluctant in buying the specially designed shades because they considered it not affordable. She said the administration would gather the 234 students in the school hall where they could view the celestial event on television. At the Kpone Methodist '2' Primary School, some of the pupils defined solar eclipse as "the sun and the moon are about to fight", "the sun and the moon are going to crash" and "the sun is coming to change colour".

The Headmistress of the school, Madam Selina Mensah, said the school had educated the students on the event and cautioned them on the effects of watching it without the recommended shades. She said students were to report to school by 0730 hours on Wednesday to enable the teachers keep them in their classrooms by 0800 hours to avoid any of them looking at it without the approved shades. Madam Mensah objected to the day being declared a holiday for school children, explaining that students would be well protected in school as teachers would make sure they stay in doors or watch it with the shades.

The GNA found that most children in Tema have bought the eclipse shades in anticipation of the event.