Scores of private basic schools in the Central Region on Monday, January 11, 2021 began undergoing mass disinfections against the new coronavirus (COVID-19).
The exercise was also to allow for a safe reopening of all the schools on Friday, January 15, as directed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 21st COVID-19 address to the nation.
The ongoing disinfection operation is a collaboration between the central government and waste management company Zoomlion Ghana Limited (ZGL).
The schools that benefitted were St George’s Catholic Preparatory School, Nana Yaw Ankomah Basic School, Bethel Moses Preparatory School, Enstuah Mensah Preparatory School, Annette Preparatory, Little Shepard International and Mrs. Kwakye De Excellence, all at Komenda in the Central Region.
Also, Zoomlion disinfected a number of private schools in the Elmina Circuit. These were Peter Holdbroke Smith, Church of Christ, Cole Angle Community School, Fair Weather, Priceless Preparatory School, Lady of Apostle, Monica Yorke, Ebenezer Preparatory School and Holywood School.
Though many of the headmasters and headmistress declined to talk to the media, their facial expressions in the light of the exercise were those of contentment.
It will be recalled that all universities, SHSs, basic schools – both private and public, were closed down in the early part of March 2020 following the outbreak of COVID-19 in the country.
However, final-year JHS and SHS students were exempted from the directive and expected to remain in school and adhere to prescribed Covid protocols while preparing for their examinations in May and June 2020, respectively.
On August 30, 2020, President Akufo-Addo in his 16th address to the nation on measures taken to control spread of the disease announced that JHS and SHS students in their second year (Form 2) were to resume on October 5, 2020 in order to complete the 2019/20 academic year.
The president directed that JHS students should operate with a class size of 30 while SHS will have a class size of 25.
He added that the students will be in school for 10 weeks to study and write their end of term examination papers.
