Deputy headmistress for the Junior High School section of the University of Ghana Basic School, Mrs. Christina Armah, has disclosed that her school was not academically affected by the strike action of the Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana(SSUoG).
The Senior Staff Association of Universities of Ghana embarked on strike action on Thursday, January 21, 2021, to press home their demand for improved conditions of service and the payment of their tier-two pension arrears.
Following their strike, the University of Ghana Basic Schools deferred their reopening.
JOIN OUR WHATSAPP FOR MORE EDUCATION NEWS
Speaking on Campus Exclusive after the Association suspended their industrial action, Mrs. Armah indicated that the only challenge they had were some complaints from parents because their wards had to stay home for some time whiles their colleagues were in school.
“If you look at it very critically, the strike did not affect us in terms of our calendar, in terms of our curriculum. But as per challenges, parents were not accepting the fact that their children had to stay home and this was from parents from outside the University Community who didn’t really understand the situation and what was happening on the ground so they thought that it was just the basic school teachers who were on strike,” she said.
She disclosed that although the school was prepared to begin academic work when the president directed basic schools to reopen, the strike of the Association delayed academic activities.
She added that Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) were received from the government just ahead of the reopening.
“We as a school were ready to reopen on the 25th but because of the strike action we had to stay home and reopen yesterday and luckily we were called to receive our PPEs per government distribution yesterday.”
Also speaking, Counsellor for the school, Mrs. Vida Abakah Kamasah, encouraged students to adhere to the covid19 protocols and also assured parents of the safety of their wards in school.
“Even we adults most of us are scared so definitely it will affect the children as well but we need to help them accept the fact that this has happened but we can manage it once we follow the protocols so we need to encourage them to adhere to the protocol, we are also assuring all parents that we are ready and we will help the children so they should be assured and bring the children to help them cope,” she said.
ALSO READ: International Childhood Cancer Day: Losing our future leaders to childhood cancer
Mrs. Armah further revealed that a Covid 19 team had been set up in the school to educate students on the safety protocols
“We have a Covid protocol team on the ground and these are mainly supervised by the heads. We have two nurses and some teachers and the counsellor so they form the team and they have been taxed to go to each of the classrooms at the beginning of the term to talk to the students so yesterday we had a few of that; explaining it them what it is and talking to them about the protocols.”
JOIN OUR WHATSAPP FOR MORE EDUCATION NEWS
Story by: Nana Adwoa Wiafe Akenten | universnewsroom.com