The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has assured parents of maximum protection for their wards as basic schools re-opened to final year students on Monday, June 29.

Mr. Osei Assibey-Antwi, the Mayor, said adequate safety measures were in place to benefit the students, and in line with this, the Assembly had facilitated the distribution of the requisite sanitary and protective items to the various schools.

"I can assure the public, especially parents that almost every basic school in the metropolis has received what it is due in terms of thermometer guns, Veronica buckets, hand sanitizers, tissue and soap, as well as nose masks," he insisted.

"The Assembly is enforcing strict adherence to the COVID-19 preventive guidelines in all basic schools under its jurisdiction," he told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Kumasi.

This was on the sidelines of a tour by the Mayor of some basic educational institutions in the metropolis to monitor activities as they welcomed final-year students, to begin academic work towards the writing of their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

Ghanaian schools had since March, this year, been closed as the country took measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, whose case counts had now surpassed 17,350 with 112 deaths.

Mr. Assibey Antwi said the KMA was working with the Public Health Committee and Health Directorate to create the requisite hygienic learning environment.

He advised the students to be law-abiding, reminding them that it was an offence for one not to wear nose mask in public places.

Schools visited included Adiebeba M/A Basic 'One' and 'Two', as well as Opoku Ware Basic Schools.

Mr. David Oppong, the Metropolitan Director of Education, said all the basic schools had been fumigated ahead of their reopening for the safety of the students.