The government of Ghana has insisted it would not close down Senior High Schools (SHSs) despite some students testing positive for coronavirus and some sections of society demanding for the closure of schools.
Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang Manu has said closing down schools would thwart government’s efforts, which will make the administration’s approach look like a coward person’s approach. He asserted that government would not tow such a path.
Persistent pressure has been put on government by some sections of the populace, especially from the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to close down schools as some schools record Covid-19 positive cases.
However, in a response to some of these concerns after being queried by journalists during a tour of some health facilities, Mr Agyemang Manu said that government would not head to those,
“defeatist and coward person’s approach”.
According to him, government would rather tackle the pandemic to save lives.
“Who knows when this disease is going to go away from the world? We haven’t got the vaccine yet so what can we do? So closing down the schools is defeatist. It’s a coward person’s approach and that’s not what we are going to do.
“We will fight the disease. We will do things that will solve some of the challenges that we have and protect everybody; ourselves and/or children.”
Mr Agyemang Manu
He, however pointed out that, the government has identified over-crowding in schools that have recorded COVID-19 positive cases as a challenge. This, he indicated that the Ghana Education Service (GES) and Ghana Health Service (GHS) have been working together to solve.
The Minister of Health questioned why no one is asking government to close down universities or Junior High Schools.
Read also JHS in the Oti Region records a case of COVID-19.
“Why is nobody asking us to close down the universities? Junior High Schools started 2-weeks now; they go home and come to school. Why are we not closing down those ones?
“The Senior High Schools, I must say they are problems in some areas but the percentage of where we have challenges wouldn’t call for us to close down the schools.
“We have been saying over and over again that we must learn to live with the disease.”
Regardless of government’s insistence the number of cases continue to go up.
There have been police presence at the Accra Girls Senior High School after the GHS disclosed in a statement that, 55 students and staff at the school had tested positive for COVID-19. This is to curb non-compliance of the laid down protocols which can cause an escalation of infections, authorities have said.
Read Also, Accra Girls’ SHS: 55 students, staff test positive for COVID-19 after testing exercise
Director-General of GHS, Dr Patrick Kumah Aboagye has revealed that, out of a total of 400,000 students who are in schools, only 111 students from 34 schools across the country have tested positive from Covid-19.
“It is important that we do surveillance. We have systems in place that would be able to pick them quickly and identify them.
“Besides, we just had of the more than 400,000 students who have gone back to school, we are recording about 110/111 cases, sporadic cases across the country from 34 schools. So I don’t think there is enough fear for us to rush into anything.”
More details about the spread of COVID-19 in SHSs in the Western Region here.
