While most tertiary institutions in the country have completed their academic programmes for the 2019/2020 academic years through online learning and exams, a few universities, including the University of Cape Coast, the University of Health and Allied Sciences and the technical universities are yet to do so.
Non-final year students of some tertiary institutions resumed classes on August 24, 2020, nationwide to complete lectures and exam for the academic year following a directive by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
Even though massive disinfection exercises have been carried out on the campuses of these tertiary institutions prior to the arrival of the continuing students, a cross-section of the public expressed concerns about the safety of the students.
Some residents in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region have expressed mixed reactions about the reopening of tertiary schools amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Whereas some agree with the decision, others say stringent safety measures should be adopted to adequately resource all tertiary institutions with Personal Protective Equipment and other safety protocols before opening them for academic work.
“It is a great idea that tertiary students are going back to school but the question is how the students are going to cope should one of them get infected with COVID-19. So we urge the government to provide PPE and put protective measures in place to protect them. Even though they are grown enough to take care of themselves, anything can happen,” a resident said.
“We want to believe that the tertiary students know their left from their right, but the PPE will be the major problem. The COVID-19 numbers are coming down for now and so we urge the students to be very careful. We also call on the government to put things in order so we don’t experience what we experienced in the Senior High Schools,” another resident said.
“There are some institutions I have been to that have huge numbers. Are they going to divide the numbers and have separate classes for them or what will they do? Legon and Tech [KNUST] have very huge numbers. How are they going to manage that? So I urge the government to get them the needed items because the Coronavirus is still real. They are also grownups so I want to tell them to take care of themselves,” a resident advised.
Meanwhile, some continuing students of the Kumasi Technical University have also expressed mixed feelings about the COVID-19 safety measures instituted as they return to school.
“Looking around, you will see that everyone is putting on a face mask and we have soap and water at the various entrances and so I think the measures put in place are okay to stop the spread of the virus,” one of the students said.
“I am also excited to be back because I have missed my friends. But I would have preferred for us to write the exams online because the negligence of the students can spread the virus regardless of the safety measures put in place,” another student said.