Govt Won’t Bow To Your Pressure – Minister To Council Of Private Schools
Deputy Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has said the government will not succumb to pressure by the Council of Private Schools to re-open schools.
According to him, the lives of students are more important thus the Akufo-Addo-led government is only following due diligence to curb the spread of the deadly Novel Coronavirus.
He was speaking on the back of statements made by school owners that times are difficult for them while calling on the president to reopen schools.
“Govt has noted the concerns of the Association but we can’t succumb to the pressure because the students’ lives will be at risk. If schools are reopened now and then the virus spreads, certainly parents will prevent their children from going to school,” he said in an interview on Hello FM monitored by Wontumionline.com.
Dr. Adutwum argued that President Akufo-Addo is very much concerned about education but it would be a dangerous move on the side of the government to allow students to go back to school because COVID-19 has not been entirely eradicated.
“I don’t think there’s anyone in the country who wants children to be in school than Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo because of the importance of education. So it’s not that the Ghana Health Service wants to sabotage. Parents are even skeptical and many seem not to ready to allow their wards in school just yet.”
The sector’s Dep Minister likened an abrupt re-reopening of schools to countries who took similar steps, following zero case count, but the decision backfired.
“The fact that the country’s case count has reduced doesn’t mean we should act carelessly. Some countries that recorded zero cases eased restrictions and then they were hit with the virus again. The president has reiterated Ghana does not want to get there hence the careful steps being implemented.”
He noted that school owners should, for now, take solace in the fact that students in the second year of both Junior and Senior High Schools will soon reopen.