No PPE: IFEST wants reopening of basic schools suspended amid COVID fears

The Institute for Education Studies (IFEST) has lashed out at the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service for failing to distribute personal protective equipment (PPE) before reopening basic schools across the country.

President Akufo-Addo in an address on Sunday night announced a raft of measures to prevent the spread of the virus in schools –which includes the supply of PPE –as students return to the classrooms to begin a new academic calendar.

In a press statement, however, IFEST questioned the government’s sense of urgency in the fight against the coronavirus in schools describing its actions as “unacceptable”.

“It is even more shocking because the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service have had the privilege of experiencing the challenges that bedevilled the sharing of this PPE during the partial reopening last year and should have started the distribution long ago before the reopening date”, IFEST said in the statement.

The statement further continued: “Unfortunately, pupils have had to report to school today without the needed PPE at the time when COVID-19 is on the ascendency in the country… The situation is likely to put both teachers and students at risk and should not be allowed to continue”.

IFEST is thus calling on the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to “suspend the reopening till all schools have received the needed PPE”.

It further called on parents and guardians to provide a nose mask and a hand sanitiser to enable them to stick to the COVID protocols.

READ IFEST’s FULL STATEMENT BELOW

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