The National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations does not want the government to reopen schools anytime soon following the COVID-19 pandemic.
The council says re-opening schools at this time will not be in the best interest of students especially when the cases of coronavirus in Ghana keep increasing.
Alexander Danso who is the President of the association in a Citi News interview said the government should put in place adequate measures that will help prevent COVID-19 in schools before going ahead to reopen them.
He noted that the risks of contracting COVID-19 in Ghana are still high and the government should “not rush” into reopening schools.
“They are our assets, why should he push them to go and contract the disease and come back home and infect others. Assuming they are unable to go back to school the whole of this year and come back next year, the GES and Ministry of Education will draw a timetable for them but if the child dies, you cannot reverse life. Let’s not rush and say schools should be opened. What kind of preventive measures have we put in place?” he quizzed.
Mr. Danso further proposed that the government could consider reopening schools around September when a new academic year starts.
He said given that schools are nearing their date of vacation, it will be important to defer school reopening to the commencement of the next academic year.
“We are already in May, and we are nearing the vacation period. Why don’t you allow them to finish with the vacation period of which time I think things would have even gone down a bit.”
The sentiments of the National Council of Parent-Teacher Association is shared by four teacher unions who have also kicked against the proposed reopening of schools soon.
Four Teacher unions; Ghana National Association of Teachers, National Association of Graduate Teachers, Tertiary Education Workers’ Union and Coalition of Concerned Teachers in a statement registered their opposition to the intended reopening.
Schools in Ghana have been closed since March 2020 as part of efforts to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
