The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, has charged the Ghana Education Service to put in place measures to ensure compliance of COVID-19 protocols in disinfected schools to avert any infections for the final year students.
Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, said this while inspecting the ongoing government-sponsored disinfection of schools at Bompeh SHS in Takoradi.
The Regional Minister told Citi News he will personally take interest in the effective monitoring of schools to curtail the spread of COVID-19.
“We have all been told that this virus moves in the air. So when we are bringing back our children to school, we want to make sure that all the surfaces are clean so they can come to sit for their exit examination without panic and be assured that their health is being taken care of. That’s why government has given Zoomlion a contract that has also been subcontracted to some four companies to help with this exercise in line with local content law to carry out the disinfection exercise successfully in the Western Region.”
“This school, in particular, is day school so naturally, the students would be coming from home, and therefore apart from this disinfection exercise, they too have to make sure that the students practice good personnel hygiene as well as observe the protocols. We would be getting the Regional GES to be inspecting to monitor whether the protocols are being enforced. So we will encourage them to be sending the Regional Co-ordinating Council reports because the RCC has oversight responsibility for SHS in the region. We all understand the inconvenience this disease has brought to us; the infection rates and deaths hence we cannot allow anybody to derail us. And now that children are coming together, we need to make sure that they supervise properly so that it does not lead to more infections in the region. More so when they are coming from home and we don’t know who they have been in contact with.”
In the Western Region, 1,808 Public and Private Basic and SHS’ schools are benefiting from the current government-sponsored disinfection of exercise.
Thirty of the schools within the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis have been subcontracted to Orion Cleaning and Fumigation Services which has disinfected Bompeh SHS and others.
The Director of Orion Cleaning and Fumigation Services, Justice Acquah, told Citi News other services they are giving to the schools in addition to the disinfection.
“We are doing this exercise on behalf of Zoomlion Ghana Limited. Currently, we have been assigned to disinfect 30 Senior High Schools in the Western Region. We commenced the exercise at the beginning of the week and so far we are still working in the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis where we are disinfecting the classrooms, dormitories, offices, and the libraries. What we plan to do in addition to this is that we would assist them with more posters to sensitize the students on the protocols.“
Meanwhile, the Assistant Headmistress of Administrator at the Bompeh SHS, Elizabeth Ampofo, explained to Citi News how they intend to ensure that no student brings to the campus any virus.
“We have put in place measures to enforce the protocols which include the Veronica Buckets and sensitize the teachers. We have two entries to the school, myself and a team would be standing there to check their temperatures every morning since it’s a day school. So if there is any high temperature, we can take it up from there.“
The Western Regional Minister, Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, however, reiterated his regret with the passing of the Mayor of Sekondi-Takoradi, Anthony K. K. Sam, who died after contracting COVID-19.
