GES releases guidelines for safe reopening of schools

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has issued guidelines for the reopening of schools after President Akufo-Addo gave the greenlight for students to return to their classrooms.

The guidelines are part of the measures put in place by the government to ensure that all educational institutions are safe for teaching and learning amid the pandemic.

“I want to assure all stakeholders, including parents and guardians, of our preparedness to support the provision of good quality education for all our learners, even in these times of the COVID-19.

“Our goal, in these times, is to provide quality education within a healthy and safe environment. At the same time, we will continue to build a more resilient educational system that will ensure continuous learning for our learners, even during emergencies,” the Director-General of the GES, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, said in the guidelines as quoted by graphic.com

The guidelines said Ghana’s determination to beat the virus was guided by science and the evidence available.

Guidelines

• To help stop the spread of the disease, it cautioned learners, teachers, and other staff who were sick or felt sick to stay at home and not go to school.
• It charged schools to enforce regular hand-washing with soap under running water, use alcohol-based hand sanitizer and regularly disinfect and clean school surfaces such as door handles, tables, and chairs.
• Moreover, it said schools should enforce the wearing of face masks at all times, promote social distancing during school gatherings (assembly and worship sessions) and dining sessions.
• The document said all schools were expected to be disinfected prior to the arrival of learners and staff, and that educational directorates were to ensure that their facilities were disinfected.
• It said schools would be provided with hand-washing facilities and hand sanitizer, and that school heads were to liaise with district and regional directors for their facilities.

“Learners and staff will be provided with re-usable face masks which must be worn at all times to, in, and from school. Learners with hearing impairment and staff will be provided with age-appropriate face shields to be worn at all times and supported by staff for safe-keeping and cleaning,” it said.

Besides, house mothers, caregivers, and teachers must regularly inspect the face shields, while gloves would be supplied to caregivers/house mothers/attendants for schools for learners with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDDs), it said.

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Class size

On class size for basic and senior high schools, the document said district directors and heads of schools should use their discretion to address peculiar situations in their districts and schools.

“Lesson periods and breaks shall be as stipulated by the GES and subject to the approved COVID-19 safety protocols.

“Visits to washrooms (that is, toilets and urinals) should be regulated to promote social distancing and safety. Parents are encouraged to provide their children with food (e.g., snacks) when going to school to minimize the movement of learners for food within and outside of the school premises,” it said.

For kindergarten children, it said heads of schools must ensure regular disinfection of furniture and other teaching/learning resources, as well as the regular washing of hands with soap under running water.