The decision by the Ghana office of WAEC to go ahead with the examination despite Nigeria’s intension to withdraw and President Akufo-Addo directive to a sub-committee of the presidential taskforce on COVID-19 to oversee the prevention of the spread of the virus in senior high schools (SHSs) are the leading stories in Ghanaian newspapers on Friday.
The Graphic reports that the Ghana Office of WAEC has said it learnt about Nigeria’s decision on social media and was yet to receive any formal communication to that effect and that once the Ghana government had not changed its mind on participating in the examination, WAEC was, for now, focused and committed to conducting a credible examination for Ghanaian candidates.
July 20, 2020, has been set for project work of Visual Arts candidates, while the written examination will start from August 3 to September 5, 2020.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, the Head of Public Relations of WAEC, Mrs. Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, said: “We are focused in our preparation for the examination because the Ghana government has not communicated to us anything to the contrary.”
She said when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, WAEC suspended the examination; however, Ghana later initiated steps for the examination to be conducted for its candidates alone.
The newspaper also says that the Director General of the West Africa Health Organization (WAHO), Prof Stanley Okolo, has pointed out that much as a lot has been achieved by way of efforts to help flatten the new coronavirus pandemic curve, the scale and nature of the pandemic has exposed the stark weaknesses in health systems within the sub-region.
On the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the health institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on July 9, 2020, Prof Stanley Okolo, believes very pragmatic steps must be taken to win the battle against the pandemic.
In an address for the occasion, he notes that the challenges “have undermined response efforts, including weaknesses in infrastructure, human resources, diagnostic and therapeutic facilities, manufacturing capacity particularly of medicines and vaccines, and deficits in the level of community engagement required to effectively tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Times reports that President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has directed a sub-committee of the presidential taskforce on COVID-19 to oversee the prevention of the spread of the virus in senior high schools (SHSs).
Additionally, dedicated personnel have been assigned to the emergency hotline 311 to link parents to their children’s schools to validate rumours about COVID-19 and related issues instead of massing up there.
Ghana’s Minister of Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, who made this known at a press briefing in Accra yesterday, assured that the government would go all out to protect the students in school.
This follows the confirmation of about 13 cases in SHSs, including Accra Girls, in less than a month since they reopened to complete course works and write exit examination.
Parents and guardians have been on edge ever since the news broke out with those whose wards were at the Accra Girls, trouping to the school on Monday to withdraw their children.
The newspaper also reported that Ghana will maintain its existing protocol despite the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) new definition of the mode of transmission of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kumah-Aboagye, has said.
According to the WHO, there was new evidence that suggested that the virus was airborne and could spread through the air.
However, responding to a question on the new classification by the WHO in Accra yesterday, Dr. Kuma-Aboagye, said that the new classification would not compel Ghana to change its safety protocol.
Rather, he stated that it would help the country to beef up means of responding to the safety measures instituted by the service and the government.
“We will not change protocols, whether airborne or not, as long as you strongly abide by the existing protocols by wearing the mask and keeping distance from each other the likelihood of contracting the virus is low,” Dr. Aboagye said.
GIK/APA