School reopening dates out Dec. 30

• Posted on December 24, 2020December 24, 2020
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

– Covid-19 Taskforce briefing president on options- Oppong Nkrumah
 

By Selorm GBORBIDZI, Accra
President Akufo-Addo is receiving briefings from the Covid-19 Technical Taskforce on limited school re-openings.

Based on the briefings, the president is expected to make a firm decision on school reopening in January 2021 after a Cabinet meeting on December 30.
Addressing a news conference in Accra yesterday, Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said the taskforce would work throughout the Christmas period to brief the President and analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on students during the limited school re-openings in July, August, September and October this year.
It will be recalled that government in July allowed final year students in the tertiary institutions to complete their semester courses and write their exit examinations.
The final year Senior High School students (SHS) also returned to complete their term courses and write the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) while the final Year Junior High School (JHS) students wrote the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in September.
Also in October, second year JHS and SHS students returned to school to complete their term courses.
During the period, some students and teachers contracted the coronavirus disease and were isolated, tested and treated.
Oppong Nkrumah explained that it was in the light of this that members of the Covid-19 Taskforce were briefing the President to inform government’s decision on whether basic schools should be reopened in January 2021.
He said a sub-committee on school reopening would soon be constituted to plan and strategise the way forward.
That, he said, would ensure that the school environment would not become a haven for spreading the respiratory disease.
On whether Ghana is considering banning flights from countries witnessing the second wave of COVID-19 infection, Mr Oppong Nkrumah said all the options were being considered.
The Ofoase Ayirebi MP said at the moment the country was implementing two layers of prevention strategies.
The first layer, he said, is that all travellers disembarking should possess negative PCR test result which was undertaken 72 hours before departure.
Additionally, all disembarking passengers were supposed to go through an antigen test at the Kotoka International Airport, and after the person tests negative, he or she would be allowed entry while those who test positive are isolated and treated.