Government is cautioning parents of second-year Junior High and Senior High school students against withdrawing their wards from schools that may record cases of COVID-19.
According to the Ministry of Education, proactive steps have been taken to ensure that the students are safe.
President Nana Akufo-Addo in his 16th address to the nation on measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 directed second-year Junior High and Senior High School students to return to school on Monday, October 5, 2020.
He explained that the return of the students is to enable them to complete their respective third term and second semester of the 2019/2020 academic year.
Final year SHS and JHS students earlier in June 2020 returned to school to complete their exit examinations.
Subsequently, there were reports of COVID-19 cases among some students, which stared up anxiety among parents and students in the country.
Tensions heightened as students of Accra Girls’ Senior High School on Tuesday, July 6, 2020, held a protest to get management to allow them to go home after the school recorded six cases of COVID-19.
Their anxious parents also trooped into the school, demanding that their wards be released to them.
Allaying similar fears of parents, the government is assuring parents that adequate measures have been put in place to ensure the health safety of the students.
In an interview with Citi News, Public Relations Officer for the Education Ministry, Kwesi Obeng Fosu assured that the students are in safe hands.
“We are going to observe all protocols to ensure they are safe. The students are safer in schools than at home where they are seen loitering about. Social gatherings for instance are not allowed in school neither is any form of sporting activity. In fact, they are better off on campus than in the house.”