More than 1,941 public and private basic schools in the Central Region are being disinfected by Zoomlion Company in preparation for the reopening of schools on January, 18.

Already all the 129 Senior High Schools in the Region and 11 Tertiary Institutions, both public and private, have been disinfected.

This followed the directive by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his Sunday, January 3, broadcast to the nation where he outlined measures put in place to stop the spread of Covid-19 as schools which had been closed for almost a year as a result of the pandemic, reopened.

Universities opened on Saturday, January 9, while Basic and Senior High Schools will reopen from Friday, January 15 to Monday, January 18.

In an interview with the GNA in Cape Coast on Monday, after briefing the newly constituted Central Region Covid-19 Schools Taskforce on the exercise, Mr. Robert Kingsley Ayemin, Public Jobs Manager of ZoomLion, described the exercise so far as successful.

The President’s directive, he noted, was for them to disinfect all the schools of which the Company was executing its works to the satisfaction of all to ensure safety in schools.

Earlier, the Regional Environmental Health Officer, Mr. William Goku, had complained of a lack of information from the Zoomlion Company, which made it difficult for his Office to monitor and supervise the disinfection exercise.

He called for greater communication between the Company and his office to ensure that the right thing was done to forestall any calamity.

Mr. Ayemin on behalf of the Zoomlion Regional Office, apologized, saying it was an omission that will not happen again.

The Regional Taskforce chaired by Mr. Matthew Ahwireng, Regional Health Promotion Officer, is also mandated to educate students as well as all stakeholders on the need to take all the precautionary measures in place to ensure the safety of students in schools. It will be replicated at the Metropolitan, Municipal, and District (MMD) levels.