WHY SCHOOLS MUST REOPEN

WRITTEN BY A CONCERNED TEACHER TRAINEE -GAPOTOR MAWUKO

It is now a chewing stick in the mouths of most Ghanaians especially the educationalists, politicians, and stakeholders on when and how schools in Ghana could be opened. Some people are of the view that we should continue to shut down our schools till things become normal as the President of Ghana, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo will always put it, “We are not in normal times”. Though day-to-day we record new cases of Corona virus, the closure of all schools in Ghana since March this year is causing more harm than good.
As the old adage goes, “Success is not achieved on a silver platter”. It is therefore to us as a nation to put forth the efforts and the rightful measures in order to open our schools. Some of the measures we can put in place may include encouraging regular hand washing by both students and teachers, the use of alcohol based sanitizers, and the like.
School as an institution for educating individuals can serve as the most useful channel in dealing with this pandemic. We can also expose all concerning the virus to the Ghanaian child in our schools. For instance, the government and Ghana Education Service in partnership with all the supporting educational Stakeholders and NGOs can make provisions of wall charts and other printed materials showing how one can stay away from the virus just as we have for other viruses like HIV. I strongly believe that when we reopen our schools, the rate at which people are being educated on this virus will increase because majority of our population are under the auspices of the school.
Furthermore, it is written in the Good Book of Life that, “For lack of wisdom, my people perish”. We should not forget as a nation that the school is an agent of instilling knowledge in individuals. Our Education system is building the lives of most of our u children and I hope that through that the virus can be eliminated as even our children in the various levels of the school can also share what they learn at the school to their friends and family at home.

In addition, though the educational measures put in place since the closure of schools like the E-learning and the other television broadcast learning is one of the best means we can educate our children, we should also not forget the current trends of education which includes critical thinking, teamwork, creativity, leadership skills and just to mention a few of them. The teacher or tutor who is now seen as a facilitator cannot measure these learning competencies which are very keen to our current education system. Also, E-learning is an electronic based system of learning and we should not forget how poor our communication systems are which includes poor network systems, the cost of internet data and most hurtfully to those who live in rural and deprived areas where there is no electricity. It is therefore not going to work for our good as a nation if we want to stick to such media as far as our current trends of education system is concerned. My point of view is that if we indeed want education to be for all citizens, we must reopen our schools with immediate effect than gearing to E-learning and the like which will not be of any benefit to the deprived school-going child. The school not only helps students learn necessary concepts and skills, but it also allows students to interact with other students socially, academically and emotionally. We should therefore allow schools to operate than closure which is of no value to our students and to the betterment of our generation and the generations to come.
Moreover, the school is one of the best agency where proper guidance and counseling take place. It is at the school that people are taught how to live for their betterment and also fit in the society as a whole. Some people accidentally attract the virus because they do not have any proper insight of it and it will be of good to the nation if the school is reopened so as to engage students in it’s guidance and counseling services. What this means is that we can use the school to teach our students on how to observe the safety guidelines against this pandemic than keeping them in their homes and communities where most of them are left over to the dangers of the virus. I realized that most of our children in the house are engaged by their parents to do all sorts of work including selling at various markets even with all this deadly virus still in existence. The school will therefore be the best place to curb the virus and not the home.
To sum up, the Good Book of life says, “There is time for everything”. The time of Corona virus has come and that should not be an obstacle to our daily way of living. Ghana as a nation should take the risk of allowing schools to be reopened and all we need is making sure that school engages in all the safety guidelines. I will like to end with what a Basic One pupil told me when I asked her how she feels of staying at home because of the closure of schools. This is what she said, “Sir, I have missed school so much especially my friends who have been encouraging me to study hard to become a better person in future”.
Though we are in coronal times, but life must continue and for life to be successful, the school must perform it’s function of causing societal change for the betterment of Mother Ghana. Let us open our schools now so as to bring better and quality education to the Ghanaian child for a better living. I want all students to support me to reach out to government and the Education Minister to open schools now.
Long live our students,
Long live our schools,
Long live mother Ghana

A STUDENT TRAINEE TEACHER OF E.P COLLEGE OF EDUCATION