The Member of Parliament (MP) for Busila South, Dr. Clement Apaak, has supported the call for the closure of schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many have called for the closure of schools following reported cases of COVID-19 in some school within three weeks of school’s reopening. Others have also justified the need for the closure of schools by stating that if parliamentarians are staying home because of the outbreak of COVID at the house, then it is right that students are allowed to stay home.
Reacting to these views, Dr. Clement Apaak said: “As an individual, I believe the call to close down schools is justified. This is because before the children will go to school, ten months after schools have been closed down largely as a result of COVID, the President made us understand that the measures such as the procurement and distribution of PPEs, disinfection of schools, among other things have been put in place. So, that gave us the confidence that the children will be in a safe environment.
Three weeks down the line, just yesterday and this morning the report we are having is that some of the schools are yet to have the full complement of these PPEs”.
Dr. Apaak opined that enough had not been done to keep students safe at school. He furthered that many stakeholders were not happy about these developments.
“African Education Watch and other organizations have spoken about it. We have seen calls from people in the educational sector and other teachers who cannot come out publicly to state what is going on. But they share that information with us because we can speak about it”.
“The President gave us assurance and spoke to the students that they shouldn’t do anything that will cause the shutdown of schools. How do you expect young kids to act responsibly when you have not given them the tools to do so?”, Dr. Apaak questioned.
The Busila South MP emphasized his stance by stating that “we should reconsider the reopening of schools because what needed to be done has not been done”.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 21st address to the nation on measures against COVID-19 announced that students will be going back to school.
Along with his announcement, he gave the assurance that Government together with other stakeholders will ensure that schools are disinfected prior to the reopening and Personal Protective Equipment (PPES) will be distributed to schools nationwide.
Meanwhile, weeks after the reopening of schools, some schools have recorded cases of COVID-19. For example, Akosombo International School in the Eastern Region has recorded a total of 79 COVID-19 cases.
