News of the reopening of schools for final year Junior High School (JHS) students have been warmly received by parents and school authorities.

Ghana has closed down all its educational institutions for more than two months since the coronavirus pandemic hit the country in March this year and this has affected all facets of life- with final year students becoming restless thinking about their academic future.

Mr Moses Aniagyei, the Principal of the Hillview Montessori School at New Ashongman in Accra, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, said the management of the school are eagerly preparing to receive the students back in school.

The school, he said, did put in place some of the safety and hygiene measures the closure.
"We started off by procuring some 'Veronica Buckets', for hand washing and hand sanitizers, as well as the required disinfectants for regular cleaning of the classrooms, toilets and other facilities of the school," he said.

He said the school management also printed out quite clearly all the educational information including the mode of transmission of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), symptoms and preventive measures and pasted them on the premises for easy access to all.

Mr Aniagyei said the school also purchased some temperature guns to help in detecting any symptoms of fever in anyone who entered its premises adding that management is poised to adhere to all the safety measures and social distancing protocols of both students and teachers.
He said the school could easily ensure social distancing for its 44-student final year class, who were already divided into two groups (A and B) classes.

He said management would ensure the total disinfection of the entire school premise one week to its reopening to the students on June 29, 2020 and strictly obey the four-hour instructional period allocated by the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service for each day.

The Principal said since the effectiveness of this special academic arrangement depended heavily on both the students, parents, staff and management of the school, a short meeting would be held with all the parties on the day of reopening to deliberate on the prevailing situation.
The parents, he said, would be urged to counsel their wards and be made to pledge their support to assist the school authorities in enforcing all the stipulated protocols to ensure the safety of all students and staff.

Mr Aniagyei urged all other educational institutions to adhere to the various measures outlined by the government and the Ghana Education Service to ensure the smooth and safe running of the academic calendar.