Students in second-cycle educational institutions in the Kumasi Metropolis, have been challenged to demonstrate the enthusiasm for adhering to the COVID-19 safety protocols.
Mr. Osei Assibey-Antwi, the Metropolitan Chief Executive(MCE) of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly, said the pandemic was no respecter of persons or age, for that matter, it behooves them to cultivate the habit of being good ambassadors of the safety protocols.
“The nation needs her young people alive, because, they represent the future,” he noted, stressing that the students ought to make it mandatory practices such as the wearing of nose masks and maintenance of personal hygiene.
Mr. Assibey-Antwi, who was addressing final-year students of the Adiebeba M/A Basic School ‘One’ and ‘Two’ in Kumasi, during a tour of some schools in the metropolis, said the only way the pandemic could be curtailed from spreading “is through self-discipline.”
“The safest way to live under our present circumstances is to always put on your mask,” he told the students.
When one wears the mask, he said, it helps to reduce to the barest minimum the possibility of contracting the disease if all the safety guidelines were followed to the letter.
Ghana’s COVID-19 case counts had surpassed 17, 350 with 112 deaths, as of June 29, this year, according to the Ghana Health Service’s portal on the pandemic.
Mr. Assibey-Antwi, on his visit to the Opoku Ware Basic School, expressed satisfaction at the manner in which the institution and majority of basic schools in the metropolis are imbibing the safety guidelines and protocols.
The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), he said, would continue to monitor the educational institutions in ensuring that the right measures were put in place for the protection of students.
Some schools visited by the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the first day of re-opening, especially within the Greater Kumasi jurisdiction, saw strict observance of the COVID-19 safety guidelines.
Apart from the mandatory wearing of the nose mask, hand-washing and use of hand sanitizers, most of the schools would also not allow entry for any student unless his or her body temperature had been taken.
Mr. David Oppong, the Metropolitan Director of Education, in an interview told the GNA that, the schools had been provided with hand sanitizers, tissue and nose masks to be distributed freely to their students.
He asked the authorities to ensure that the students observed social distancing for their own protection.
