NO RUSH TO REOPEN PRE-TERTIARY SCHOOLS- GES

The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, has noted that the government will not rush into re-opening pre-tertiary schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.

He said the Ghana Education Service will act purely on the sound advice of the inaugurated committee on the opening of schools.

“The schools will reopen when the committee has made proposals, and the proposals have been accepted. So, there is no date for us now, but we know that obviously, schools will reopen some time,” Prof. Opoku-Amankwa added.

Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said following the President’s directive on measures towards reopening schools, the Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, had constituted an eminent body to oversee to a possible resumption of schools.

The Director-General said even though the resumption of schools was purely an educational matter, it also had health implications due to the pandemic, stressing that “as a result, the committee, which is chaired by a former Minister of Education, Professor Dominic Fobih, has representatives from the Ghana Health Service.”

Prof. Opoku-Amankwa said, “for the re-opening of schools, the President has charged the Minister of Education to work with the Ghana Education Service, and the ministry has constituted a committee to look at that, and we’ve been asked to come out with a programme by September 21, and subsequently it will go to the President for a decision to be taken”.