Ghana News Agency (Larteh-Akuapem) – The Ghana Education Service (GES) says it expects the school reopening committee to submit its recommendation by 21 September 2020.
Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, director general of the GES, announced this news during a workshop on the GES’s Secondary Education Improvement Project in Larteh-Akuapem in the Eastern Region.
The announcement follows the address by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to the nation on Sunday 16 August 2020, which presented the government’s intention to consider the reopening of schools.
Schools and universities across Ghana shut down in March this year as the government attempt to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus disease.
Safety and well-being
In his address, President Akufo-Addo tasked the Ministry of Education to engage with the GES and all other relevant stakeholders to conclude discussions on a practical plan for the reopening of pre-tertiary schools.
He pledged to communicate in due course the decisions reached in those consultations. He also gave his assurance that he would always take into consideration the safety and well-being of all children, teachers and non-teaching staff in the decisions that would be taken.
On Thursday 20 August Matthew Opoku Prempeh, the Minister of Education, inaugurated a ten-member committee chaired by Professor Dominic Fobih, a former minister of education, and representatives from the Ministry of Education, GES, UNICEF, private school sector and parents.
Professor Opoku-Amankwa said the committee’s recommendations will be submitted to the president to make a final decision on the reopening of schools in the pre-tertiary sub-sector.
The Secondary Education Education Improvement Project (SEIP) is a US$196 million World Bank credit facility to Ghana to improve 125 low-performing senior high schools in the country. The project started in 2014 and is expected to end in November 2021.
One hot meal
Touching on the government’s initiative to give one hot meal a day to final-year junior high school students, Professor Opoku-Amankwa said a committee led by Frema Opare, the Chief of Staff, has been constituted to ensure effective implementation of the programme.
The committee, the GES director said, is expected to come out with a comprehensive programme of action to ensure effective monitoring of the feeding initiative.
In his 15th address to the nation on measures to curb the spread the coronavirus, President Akufo-Addo said all final-year JHS students are to be given one hot meal per day starting from Monday 24 August after it was reported that some final-year students have been “going hungry in complying with the COVID-19 protocols”.
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