Gov’t has not decided on reopening of schools yet – Deputy Educ. Minister

The government has not yet taken a decision on when to reopen schools in Ghana, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Deputy Education Minister in charge of Basic and Secondary Education, has said.

At the moment, he said, the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Ministry of Education and health authorities are engaging stakeholders on the way forward for the schools but no decision has been taken yet.

News making rounds suggest the government is likely to reopen schools in the first week of June in spite of the increasing number of the coronavirus cases.

Speaking on the Sunrise morning show hosted by Alfred Ocansey on 3FM Wednesday, May 20, Dr Adutwum wondered where that news is coming from.

Schools were closed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as part of the measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

The president placed a ban on all gatherings including political party rallies, church services and large funerals, among others, when the pandemic broke out in Ghana.

Regarding a possible reopening of schools, Dr Adutwum said the decision, apart from the assessment and engagement by the GES, will also largely depend on health considerations.

“The GES has started engagement,” he said, “they will be meeting with teacher unions and other groups to solicit their inputs.”

He added: “Of course the critical decisions won’t come from education, it will come from health, just like in the US where the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) gave a broad stroke of a kind of policy and said this has to prevail, this has to be there.

“So that whether public or private [school], you can’t just wake up and say you have reopened schools without meeting certain requirements that will be transparent so that a parent will have confidence.

“This is not a monologue, it has to be a dialogue because you have so many people involved in here.

“GES is not blindfolded by the reality of the situation and of course they cannot just jump and reopen schools without a thorough analysis at the highest level of government.”