Tema West, Jan. 19, GNA – Basic schools in the Tema West Municipality have taken delivery of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) as academic work begins after the re-opening of schools across the country.
The PPE, which are currently being distributed to all 37 public schools in the Municipality, are expected to assist the pupils and their teachers to strictly observe Covid-19 safety protocols.
Due to the outbreak of Corona Virus (Covid-19), schools were closed down for 10 months as part of measures to curtail the spread of the virus.
The Tema West Municipal Education Directorate, after fumigation and disinfection local schools prior to re-opening, has begun the distribution of the PPE including sanitizers, masks, liquid soaps, veronica buckets, rolls of tissue paper for learners, staff and caregivers across the Municipality.
During a monitoring exercise in some Private and Public schools in Sakumono, the GNA observed that pupils who were generally in their respective classrooms were conscious of and adhered largely to the Covid-19 safety protocols.
At the TWMA Basic School in Sakumono Village, some pupils who were spotted without their facemasks with careless abandon and in clear defiance of the protocols, retorted that they had them in their bags or did not possess one at all.
Unlike some of the public schools, when the GNA visited the Queens Land International School in Sakumono Estate, a plush private school, veronica buckets had been placed at the entrance of each classroom, and pupils who properly donned their facemasks, took turns to have their temperatures checked before they made their way into their classrooms.
At the Aggrey Road Basic School, where the distribution of PPE for schools in Tema Metro and Tema West Municipal was ongoing, some veronica buckets had been provided for washing of hands and some pupils who the GNA spoke to complained about the physical discomfort they experienced by continuously wearing the masks.
Mrs Adwoa Amoako, Municipal Chief Executive, Tema West Municipal Assembly, who was accompanied by some officials of the Assembly and the Municipal Directorate of Education, distributed some PPE, uniforms, drinks and confectionaries to pupils across the Municipality to mark their “First Day at School.”
She called on the pupils to adhere to the Covid-19 safety protocols and adopt safety behaviours, uncomfortable as they may seem, in order to stay healthy, adding that government had taken the necessary steps possible to ensure safety in schools.
Mr Francis Steele, Municipal Director of Education, speaking in an interview with the GNA noted that some 130 private and public schools in the Municipality had been disinfected prior to the re-opening of schools and were all safe for use.
According to him, teachers had undergone the requisite orientation on the “guidelines for school re-opening during Covid-19” to enable them assist with compliance of pupils to safety protocols, and said “we have also began the training of learners on safety measures and assigned Covid-19 ambassadors in schools to further ensure safety.”
He explained that, the only challenge the municipality was grappling with was overcrowding in schools in Adjei Kojo, Klagon, Baatsona and Sakumono, adding that the possibility of a shift system could stifle the government’s attempt of getting children to school.
GNA