Deputy Director General of Quality and Access at the Ghana Education Service (GES), Dr. Kwabena Bempah Tandoh says government has set in place the necessary mechanism for schools to be able to operate safely in the “new normal.”

According to him, government’s decision to reopen schools for final year students was done in consultation with not just the unions, but other educational stakeholders.

“… and we have also looked at evidence in terms of what is happening elsewhere and we all looked at the possibility that if you bring the final year students, which is the President’s decision, because they have an exit exam to take, we need to look at the protocols in place in Ghana as well as other things that must be in place to ensure this can be done.”

Speaking on Joy News’ Newsfile Saturday, Dr. Tandoh explained that the new directives will be such that class sizes will be significantly reduced to avoid congestion and basic sanitary facilities will be provided for schools to ensure that sanitary protocols are strictly adhered to.

Also, “every student will be given three reusable face masks”.

“So those are things we’ve done. We’ve done the modeling, we’ve done the application, and we’ve looked at the sensibility” he said.

He added that, the GES has been working closely with WAEC to understand what modalities need to be in place to ensure that the exams are written under safe conditions.

They also “had to look at what was left in terms of academic work needed to be done and what preparations students needed to do before taking the exams. So those things have been well thought through”

According to the Deputy Director General of Quality and Access at the GES, the Minister of Education has been working hard with them to ensure the smooth transition into the new reality education in Ghana is facing.

“And since the president’s announcement, every decision that we have taken in Ghana Education service has been to work on how we live with what everybody calls the new normal.”