SURVIVING TILL JANUARY 2021.

Yesterday the curtains were drawn on the discussion on when school will resume fully in Ghana following the closure of schools (Preschool-JHS2) when the President gave his 16th update since the Coronavirus pandemic occurred.
Speculations were that students were likely to return to school in September and people were looking forward to that even though a statement by the Education Minister some weeks earlier hinted that schools will not be opened in September.
Discussions dominating the airwaves this morning have been centred around how private school teachers will cope financially and how parents are going to supervise e-learning procedures when they are to be at work themselves.

As an educational solutions provider, we fully understand the plight of parents, school owners, teachers and the students. In view of that, we suggest the following measures to parties directly affected:

School Owners
1. Communicate with parents efficiently on what measures you intend to take till January 2021. This is key because failure to do so will show a lack of concern and it may cause them to withdraw their wards from your school.

2. Communicate with your teachers. Do not assume that they know the situation at hand. Have a collective discussion on how they can teach using e-learning methods and how much you can pay them or what you can provide to ease the pain. Failure to do so may result in you losing your valuable staff.

3. There are a number of e-learning systems around but before you sign up, think about the future. Yes, e-learning is the most important thing needed now but a holistic system will solve all other issues in addition to the virtual teaching gap. Investigate properly. As providers of Seekapor.com, we highly recommend it. This is because it has various portals that make the work of key staff in the school system better.

4. Check on parents and their wards via text/mail/calls. It could be on a weekly basis. This is the time to show concern.

Teachers
1. There are parents who need help with the virtual teaching methods because of time, skill or others. Make yourself available to take up such roles at a fee.

2. Improve your tech skills during the time and look out for research roles that are being done virtually.
3. Suggest systems to your employers that can be taken advantage of to stay in business although remotely so that revenue comes in.

Parents
1. Hold discussions with your ward’s school when you need clarification. Do not simply withdraw. Make suggestions to them. Explore all avenues before concluding that the school is not as efficient as you thought it to be.

2. Give the opportunity to your ward’s teachers to assist with home tutoring if you need it.

3. In situations where you cannot afford the school’s virtual teaching rates, find good sites or programmes on net, Tv or radio that provide solid education and let them follow.

4. A holistic education is important so sign up your wards for swimming, music lessons or any other thing they enjoy. Or simply allow them to do the outdoors; it rejuvenates them and serves as a form of exercise. Through play, learning also takes place.

These are difficult times but with time, it will be over.