Editorial; Welcome back to school, students

Per the directive of the Ghana Education Service (GES), all form two students of Junior and Senior High Schools throughout the country return to school today, October 5, 2020.

This is to enable them complete the third term and second semester respectively of the current academic year.

The Chronicle joins the GES to welcome the students back to school and urges them to continue to pay particular attention to their academic activities.

We are glad that the GES has assured students, parents, teachers, and the general public that the necessary measures have been put in place to ensure their safety while in school.

It has been reported that all schools have been fumigated and disinfected, and that Personal Protective Equipment also distributed to all schools.

These, to us at The Chronicle, are proactive steps taken by the GES to ensure the safety of students and teachers in schools.

The Chronicle has taken cognisance of the fact that apart from the reopening of the schools allowing students to complete their studies and continue to the next level, it would ensure for the students essential services, access to nutrition, and child welfare, such as preventing violence against children.

The students also stand to gain from their social and psychological well-being.

Further, there will be access to reliable information on how to keep themselves and others safe, reducing the risk of a non-return to school, while there is the benefit to society, such as allowing parents to work.

It is against this backdrop that we commend the government for putting in place all the measures to reopen our schools.

While we commend the government for supporting the schools to disinfect all classrooms to ensure that they are well-prepared to resume academic activities, we would side with some parents who are appealing to the government to equip public schools with e-learning facilities, internet access for teachers, and an internet library for students against future academic disruptions.

We have taken this position because, the novel coronavirus pandemic has underscored the importance of e-learning, for which reason we have earlier urged the government to consider reforms in the educational sector.

We believe that stakeholders in the Information Technology (IT) industry must use this era of the coronavirus to activate all the innovative tools that would lessen the burden on both teachers and students to step up teaching and learning.

The Chronicle would like to appeal to teachers in our various schools to motivate the students adequately enough to enable them reintegrate into the academic system.

We also urge managements of the schools to put in place measures that will support students, teaching and non-teaching staff, as we all strive to enhance education in the country.

The Chronicle would further urge parents and guardians and the public to continue to support, cooperate and collaborate with the educational authorities to ensure successful academic work in all the schools.

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