Ghana: Academic year of 2020-2021 will be rescheduled, says education minister

Ghanaian education minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has said that the schools in the country will not be made to resume fully so long as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread, according to a news report by News Ghana.

According to him, studies conducted by the scientific community on the nature and behavior of the virus make it dangerous to re-open schools fully as it will be fertile grounds for rapid spread among Ghanaian students hence endangering the lives of the public.

This means the start of the 2020-2021 academic year which normally begins in September in the West African country will be rescheduled to a later date.

"Once COVID-19 still remained with us, students will not be made to resume fully as it is fertile grounds for the spread," Dr. Opoku Prempeh stated.

He observed that the government would take a decision on how to run the new academic year once final year students in the country's junior and senior high schools as well as those in the tertiary institutions completed their various examinations.

The education minister assured the public that his outfit had put in place measures to ensure that all schools reopened to accommodate final year students to enable them to write their exams complied with all COVID-19 safety protocols as announced by the government.

Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo directed the closure of all schools on March 16 after the West African country recorded its first case of COVID-19 four days earlier.

The announcement brought all academic activities to an abrupt end until three months after when the Ghanaian leader asked that final year students in the tertiary, senior high schools, and junior high schools returned to school on June 15, 22 and 29 respectively to write their final exams.