Following the President’s directive that tertiary institutions be reopened this week for continuing students, the Ministry of Education (MoE) in collaboration with Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL) undertook the second phase of disinfecting all tertiary institutions across the country.
The nationwide exercise started simultaneously on Friday in about five regions. These were the Greater Accra, Central, Volta, Northern, Western and Ashanti Regions.
The exercise will cover technical universities, health facilities in addition to all public and private tertiary institutions, and it formed part of central government’s continuous measures aimed at containing spread of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Final-year students of tertiary institutions completed the academic year by writing their final exams on Friday, and that facilitated the exercise.
In the Greater Accra Region, tertiary institutions that were disinfected on day-one of the exercise included West End University, Dominion University, Islamic University and Kings University College among others. Open spaces at those institutions were disinfected in addition to their lecture halls, various faculties, offices and other facilities.
Addressing the media on sidelines of the exercise, the Greater Accra Regional Manager of ZGL, Mr. Ernest Morgan Acquah, disclosed that his outfit is expected to disinfect about 86 tertiary institutions in the country.
In addition to the disinfection, Mr. Morgan Acquah reiterated the need for students and authorities in the tertiary institutions to continue observing the COVID-19 preventive measures.
And though he said it is encouraging that the country’s active cases have reduced drastically, he advised this “should not be a reason for us to lose our guard”.
At the Catholic Institute of Business Technology (CIBT) near the Information Ministry, the Registrar, Mr. Perry Ofosu, applauded government’s collaborative effort with Zoomlion to fight the virus.
The registrar of CIBT was excited about the second disinfection exercise in his school, and averred that they had put in place adequate safety measures to receive the continuing students on Monday.
These measures, he said, include placing Veronica buckets at vantage points and ensuring the students observe social/physical distancing.
“We will also provide each student with two reusable nose masks,” Mr. Ofosu added.
The exercise ended on Sunday.
