Desmond Kampoe, a primary school Teacher in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality, has donated items to help tackle the spread of the deadly Coronavirus at the school he teaches.
The Teacher, popularly known as Dezmond on social media, distributed 500 pieces of nose masks, face shields and several pocket-size bottles of alcohol-based hand sanitizers last week to pupils of Naaga Primary School [Primary 1 to 6] as they joined the rest of Ghana to resume rigorous academic activities following the reopening of schools by the President Akufo-Addo.
As government announced the reopening of schools, teachers, parents and other civic bodies expressed concerns over the safety of pupils at the basic level.
They particularly raised deeper concerns about the vulnerability of school children in rural areas who have little knowledge about the disease and resources to guard themselves against its infection.
Though government in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service, the Ghana Health Service and Zoomlion Ghana Limited, have undertaken several disinfection exercises, education and provision of medical essentials in schools countrywide, the efforts do not seem enough considering the rate of infection in the country.
Some parents do not trust the efforts of government and have heightened continuous calls for closure of the schools, while serious measures are employed to tackle the disease.
One person who, however, thinks government cannot do it alone when it comes to safeguarding his pupils against the disease so he can have the safest environment to impart knowledge is Desmond Kampoe.
His kindness has not only put smiles on faces of his pupils who would be protected but deepened the trust the littles ones have in him, especially when he walks up to the board every morning to share knowledge.
When GhanaWeb’s Upper East Correspondent, Senyalah Castro, contacted him via phone call to delve deeper into his heroic act, Mr. Kampoe who said he could not look on as the dangers of Covid-19 stared straight into the little faces of his pupils, said: “When my pupils are safe in the classroom, I will also be safe because we are all in the same environment and classrooms”.
He said the donation was his little way of giving back to the school he has been teaching at since he was posted there in 2017. He also said it was a way of telling the pupils about the second wave of the disease and reminding them to continue to maintain personal hygiene both at school and at home.
“It just my little way of helping the kids. Also, my gesture is to alert the kids that the covid-19 is there so they should adhere to the cautions and protocols that we have given them. Once the nose masks are given to them that mental picture will be created”
Mr. Kampoe urged government to pay special attention to schools in rural Ghana, such as his, in the era of the COVID-19. He noted the difficulty such schools face in the acquisition of items to fight the disease.
He used the opportunity to appeal to authorities to provide the Naaga Primary School with classroom furniture, books and complete a 6-unit classroom block that is under construction.
Meanwhile, GhanaWeb has learnt that Naaga primary school lacks furniture.
According to information, the problem is dire in classes 1, 2 and 3 where pupils sit on the bare floor, on cement blocks or lie prostrate during class hours.
Sources say the challenge is hampering effective teaching and learning, as the pupils doze off during contact hours or are not able to write in their books.
Desmond Kampoe pictured with his students