The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare believes the government’s decision to generally reopen schools should be largely dependent on a significant reduction in COVID-19 cases in the country.
Kofi Asare argued that it is paramount for the government to consider the country’s COVID-19 statistics before deciding to reopen schools, given that most schools will lack the capacity to test students when they resume.
“In all our projections, the common denominator is we are able to either maintain or reduce the rate of infections in the country. You realize that the numbers we are dealing with are quite huge. If we are to reopen the school in January, although they will go in batches, we are talking about 300,000 students going to school at a particular time and that is a huge number.”
“So to a higher-end, to the extent that we do not have the capacity to test every student at the point of entry, it becomes necessary to rely on a reduced incidence of the disease before all the permutation relating to the reopening of school in January can materialise.” Kofi Asare argued on The Point of View on Citi TV.
Partial reopening
President Akufo-Addo on March 15, 2020, directed the closure of schools at all levels to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The restriction on schools which was partially lifted after almost 10 weeks of closure, saw final year students of Senior High and Junior High Schools (JHS) resuming on Monday, June 29, 2020.
This partial resumption of the schools came amidst concerns raised by some persons and institutions that the reopening will put the lives of teachers and students in danger.
Some Junior and Senior High School students have already tested positive, following the partial re-opening of schools.
So far 110 students from 34 schools have tested positive for Coronavirus.
