Mr Michael Yao Tsuiatorfe, Ketu South Municipal Education Director has called on parents and guardians to support government's efforts to fight COVID-19 by providing their wards with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

He said it was important for parents to know that they had a role to play in keeping their children safe, five weeks into the reopening of schools across the country.

Mr Tsuiatorfe, made this call when he spoke to the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a day's workshop on the guidelines for school reopening during COVID-19 said, though the Directorate was expecting to receive full complement of PPEs from the government, parents had to step in to ensure the safety of school children and that of teaching and non-teaching staff.

"Government has been supplying us with PPEs for distribution to both public and private schools in the Municipality to help the fight against the spread of COVID-19. And since the reopening of schools at all levels in January, we got delivery of some PPEs about four times. We got tissue, hand sanitisers and reusable face mask and we're expecting more.

The workshop was attended by about 40 education stakeholders, including School Improvement Support Officers, School Management Committee Executives, personnel from the Municipal Assembly and the Health Directorate.

They discussed and reviewed documents on the guidelines and suggested ways to better keep the school environment safe and healthy for all learners, staff and education workers.

Discussions were on disinfection of schools and education directorates, provision of PPEs, mapping of schools to health facilities, splitting of classes, visitation to schools, general protocols for schools, boosting immune system, mental wellbeing and communication among others.

Some participants complained that the exercise to disinfect schools was not thorough due to lack of communication with heads of school leading to difficulty in having access to some classrooms, while others expressed dissatisfaction with the implementation of the mapping of schools to health facilities.

They suggested that henceforth, there should be close collaboration with the relevant agencies in implementing the guidelines to guarantee safe and healthy schools.

Mama Ayaba II, Queenmother of Adafienu called on the public especially parents/guardians, teachers and heads of schools to take COVID-19 pandemic serious so as to encourage their wards and learners respectively, to observe the safety protocols to stop the spread.