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“Final years first” – Adei advises against wholesale reopening of schools

Professor Stephen Adei’s suggestion that schools reopen for final-year students only, to guard against the spread of COVID-19, launches the “back to school” debate

A renowned Ghanaian educationist, Professor Stephen Adei, has suggested the reopening of schools for only final-year students as the debate on whether or not schools in Ghana should reopen amid the outbreak of the novel coronavirus rages on.

He has advised the government not to rush to reopen schools at all levels, because such a move will be counterproductive to the fight against the COVID-19 epidemic in Ghana.

President Akufo-Addo’s 15 March 2020 directive closing all schools, ranging from basic education to tertiary institutions, to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, has become a matter of discussion, with various groups divided over their support or otherwise for students to return to the classroom.

But speaking on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News, the Professor Emeritus proposed that prioritising the sizeable final-year class, rather than having the entire student population in session, is much more manageable and can help reduce the risk of infection among students.

“I think that we should not rush to reopen for all students to go back at the same time because we have not learned how to manage the crowd at this stage. However, I think the institutions can reopen as soon as possible by the end of this month, even for the final-year students.

“In the universities, you will be dealing with a quarter of the population who are adults and can manage it.”

“When it comes to the secondary school level, they had eight weeks left before they went home. [You can also take only the final years] but even if you think that the final years are too many, you can double-track them for one batch to come and do eight weeks and the others come later,” Professor Adei said.

“But the most important thing is that you want to have the numbers manageable for distancing and teaching. So I think that we should be concerned with the examination candidates now.

“We must be careful in breaking in; we must deal with the final-year students’ numbers first, such that we can observe the protocols. There are options but we must be pragmatic.”

JHS candidates

Professor Adei was quick, however, to add that a special arrangement could be made for final-year junior high school (JHS) students, saying: “For the JHS, they are not as significant. Now we basically have basic education school children in wholesale to the secondary level so theirs is not that difficult because we can do a normal common entrance on only two subjects so that those who are too weak to continue. We have done it before and it’s simple.”

While teachers in state-run schools are asking the government to abort any possible plans to reopen schools, the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) has argued otherwise.

Four teacher unions – the Ghana National Association of Teachers, National Association of Graduate Teachers, Tertiary Education Workers’ Union and Coalition of Concerned Teachers – have registered their opposition to the intended reopening.

Parent-teacher associations and school management committees have also generally advised the government not to reopen schools because it will put the lives of teachers and students in danger.

Schools won’t reopen now, consultations ongoing

The Minister ot Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has debunked claims that the government intends to reopen schools soon, regardless of the surge in COVID-19 cases in Ghana.

A number of stakeholder consultations is being held in that regard, the minister said. He urged interest groups and parents to channel their energies towards finding ways to resolve the COVID-19 challenges.

“We noticed that there are a lot of stakeholder groups and parents and unions that appear apprehensive since those reports [on schools reopening soon] came out. It is okay to be apprehensive. Indeed, if we were not apprehensive then we would not be sensitive to the challenges of the times.

“It is okay to have worries, it is okay to wonder how this will be done, but we must channel those apprehensions and those worries towards answering the question. What does it take? What should be the indication of a good time? What will be the best way to protect teachers, non-teachers, students if we are to open up at some point?” Oppong Nkrumah said.

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