The National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations have called on government to postpone talks on the reopening of schools.

According to them, it is too early for government to be thinking about reopening schools at a time where the recorded cases of Covid-19 are rising steadily.

The concerns follow a letter from GES suggesting that the body has launched a stakeholder consultation to provide President Akufo-Addo with measures to be taken ahead of a possible reopening of all basic and senior high schools.

President Akufo-Addo during his first national address in March 2019 shut down all schools across the country and imposed a ban on social gathering to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

The directive, was again extended to the end of May, awaiting review with stakeholders.

In view of this, GES in a letter dated May 13, 2020, and signed by Director-General, Kwasi Opoku–Amankwa urged all stakeholders including leadership of teacher bodies to contribute their ideas on how the schools can ensure there is safety and maximum security if pupils are allowed to come back to school.

However, condemning this letter, the NCPTA said there is no scientific data from the Ghana Health Service indicating it is safe for schools to reopen, thus “we fear that this extraordinaire of government as reason for the reopening could rather endanger the irredeemable lives of our children, teachers and other workers in our schools.”

They added that it would also be near impossible to maintain social distancing and other safety protocols in the densely congested classrooms and schools due to lack of infrastructure, running water and insanitary conditions.

The NCPTA is therefore calling on government to postpone talks about the reopening of schools to either August or September where they are hopeful there might be a nosedive in cases of infection.

However, should the West African Examination Council (WAEC) decide to conduct the WASSCE, NCPTA says an exception can be made for final year students to enable them adequately prepare for the exams.