How to Safely Reopen Schools: Some Guidelines For Consideration

Much has been said about the potential escalation of COVID-19 infection among learners and teachers if schools are reopened prematurely. On other hand, when students stay home for a longer period it can have negative effect on their education. Some can engage in premarital sex leading to teenage pregnancies, abusing of drugs and others becoming uninterested in education and thereby dropping out. The truth also is, schools cannot be closed forever, it must eventually be opened. The main concern of educators is when is it appropriate? And also how to devise an efficient roadmap to avoid putting our children and teachers at risk of being infected with the coronavirus.

Continue stay at home is even becoming unsafe for learners. It’s not that learners are home with their parents for parents to provide oversight; most of them are roaming our streets, visiting friends, hawking and not even making use of the several remote learning avenues provided by GES. This even exposes learners to a higher risk of getting the virus. Parents, some of whom are market women, bankers, health workers, drivers etc. are also going about their businesses and are not home to provide the essential parental guidance in these times.

We cannot wait to have zero infection before schools are opened. Schools were closed on March 15, 2020, at that time Ghana had recorded only 6 cases. If schools were closed when we had only 6 cases, it means even if our infected persons become 6 (which might take several months), the same reason for closing schools in the first place (6 infections) still exist and students are still at risk so schools cannot be opened. Therefore handlers of education must find ways to reopened schools in the midst of COVID-19.

The government and GES are already in consultation with stakeholders and GES has also asked for inputs from interested persons so as to come up with an efficient roadmap to reopen schools. We must quickly devise a blueprint that provides guidelines for safe and responsible reopening of schools without putting learners and teachers at risk. This should not be based on politics or wishful thinking. There should be extensive collaboration between GES, public health professionals, teacher unions and the PTA to come out with a plan that deals not only with how to reopen but also what to do should there be any unfortunate spike of the virus.

Some individuals have made suggestions as to the appropriate measures to take in reopening schools. This include; provision of nose masks for learners and teachers, provision of veronica buckets for each classroom in all our schools, testing of all learners and teachers, reducing class sizes to a maximum of 30 learners per classroom. Others have also recommended that students be allowed to go in batches in the SHS; form 3 first to write their WASSCE then form 2 and finally form 1.

This article adds to these existing suggestions and also brings the minds of the handlers of education to some few things that can be considered as we prepare to reopen schools.

To effectively deal with COVID-19 in our schools, every school should have a COVID-19 centre (office) with officials that will be in-charge of testing, distribution of nose masks, dealing with suspicions among others.

Officials at these centres will go to classrooms to give 10 – 15 minutes talk on the virus, its spread and preventive measures. Most of our learners do not even know or really understand what COVID-19 is or what is required of them with regards to social distancing. A clear understanding will make it easy for learners to abide by the recommended preventive protocols and to know why classrooms have been divided and some classmates are not with them. These talks can be done once or twice a week in addition to teaching learners how to wash their hands well. The COVID-19 centre will also be the first point of call in case of suspicions.

Also, as a way of boosting the immune system of learners, the government must provide the COVID-19 centres in all schools with vitamin C to be given to learners every day when they report to school. The presence of such centres in schools will help health professionals and government officials to easily liaise with a particular school about whatever is happening in relation to COVID-19. This will help control unnecessary spread of rumours. Head teachers and teachers can concentrate on their core duties and not complicate their work with COVID-19 matters as the COVID-19 centres deal with all issues relating to COVID-19.

Furthermore, for the months ahead till we achieve some level of normalcy with the spread of the virus, learners should attend school in tracks or batches at the basic level.

Most classrooms in the government basic schools are overcrowded and this can be a fertile ground for the spread of the virus. Much has been said about halving classes to a maximum of 30 students per class and recruiting more teachers to help with the additional classes as a result. But the question is do we have the infrastructure currently to support that? It is impossible to divide some classes into two looking at our current resources. We cannot also build new classrooms in the interim. Recruiting teachers also takes time with financial approvals and postings which by the time teachers settle where they are posted it will be too late.

I suggest that students should be made to go to school in batches; morning and afternoon batch. Basic 1 – 3 will go to school from 7 am to 11:30 am then basic 4 – 6 can go from 12:30 pm to 5 pm. With this approach all classes will be divided into two; basic 1 will occupy basic 1 and 2 classrooms, basic 2 will take basic 3 and 4 classrooms and basic 3 will occupy basic 5 and 6 classrooms. When the lower primary closes at 11:30 am teachers can quickly refill Veronica buckets, clean, sanitize all desks and TLMs and do any other necessary disinfections before the upper primary comes and they will also be divided to occupy the six classrooms like the lower primary.

With this method we are going to use our existing classrooms and TLMs available and not worry about infrastructure deficit as we seek to reduce class sizes and overcrowding in schools. The same approach can be adopted for JHS as well. For kindergarten, the times can be from 7:30 am – 11 am for the first batch and 11:30 am – 3.00 pm for the second.

Going to school morning and afternoon is not a new approach; in fact, this was a norm in Ghana’s educational system some few years back and it produced doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers etc. I am myself a product of morning and afternoon schooling. We are not adopting this permanently; we only need to use it for a few months because of the novelty of our situation. We can return to our ‘normal’ way of schooling when the virus is defeated or a vaccine is created. Looking at the current available infrastructure in our public schools, it is almost impossible to decongest or talk of reducing class size. Where will the rest of the students go?

When we are able to come out with an efficient roadmap and schools reopens, the priority must be how to integrate all students into school setting safely and in ways that allow learning to pick up again while minimizing risk of spread should there be infections

Reopening schools without a clear blueprint that provides guidelines and necessary precautions can be deadly. I believe the above suggestions in addition to others that have been made can help us reopen schools so children can return safely to classrooms to continue their academic work.