Another lockdown could have several consequences on schools – Educationist
Ghana's coronavirus cases have risen in recent weeks
Africa Education Watch Fellow and educationist Divine Kpe has said another lockdown could have several consequences on education in the country.
Read full articleHe has observed that an assessment from the recent resumption of schools shows most students could not identify letter names and sounds.
“Already students have spent like 10 months at home and the effect we have all noticed is within this one week of resumption, we have run a diagnostic assessment and we know that students have lost a lot. I can say that several children could not even identify the letter names let alone the letter sounds. A closure again will begin to lose on their learning”.
His comments follow reports by the Information Minister-designate, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah that the country may be heading for tighter restrictions and a possible lockdown should the Covid-19 cases continue to rise.
Another lockdown he notes could potentially lead to an increasing number of school dropouts.
“Some students have not returned to school and the numbers are high, that alone tells you that a lockdown has the potential of causing a lot of school dropouts”.
The educationist said mechanisms need to be devised to mitigate for the loss of academic activities should another lockdown be imposed.
Recommendations
The education think tank Fellow, however, suggested that home learning initiatives be strengthened such that students can still be engaged by teachers despite the absence of physical classroom activities.
“Before we even close, we need to put measures in place, one being strengthening home learning so even when these students are at home they can still be engaged by teaches unlike how they were left totally without any engagement from their teachers”.
He adds: “ We need to procure textbooks too so that they can even be using them whilst engaged virtually”.
Divine Kpe emphasized the need for a database collation to enable teachers to liaise with parents of respective wards.
“We need to build a database for our students before any closure, teachers need to get a contact of parents so they can liaise with them on how well they both can strengthen the capacity of the students”.
