A Researcher at the Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research, KCCR, Dr Michael Owusu says the biggest challenge with the reopening of schools would be at the kindergarten level where the children don’t know how to handle themselves and have no regard for COVID 19 safety protocols.
According to him, if a kindergarten child loses a sense of smell or taste it would be difficult to know because the child cannot communicate.
“For me am very much concerned about the kindergarten child or nursery; If they lose their sense of taste or smell or if they have fever it is you the teacher or parent that have to touch the body and know that this child has fever, if he’s not able to breath you have to study the muscle how he inhales and exhales well, check the breathing pattern and know that something is wrong,” he stated.
His comment comes on the back of the President’s directive for the reopening of all schools beginning January 9 and 15. Per the directive children in kindergarten, primary and Junior High, in both private and public schools, will be back in school whiles All SHS 1 students will start classes from 10th March, with all students embarking on a single-track academic calendar.
Speaking on the 3FM Sunrise Morning Show, Dr. Michael Owusu, believes if the country going all full blown reopening it comes with its own advantages in helping the children but comes with a lot of responsibilities where all hands must be put on deck and ensure the disease is managed.
He said vigilance and pro activeness is very important. “The need for us to recognize the symptoms very early and collect these samples and take them to the lab. If it is detected early you have a better chance of recovering but if you have late detection you will have a problem”.
He however placed the responsibilities on parents because they understand their children better.
He said the Ghana Health Service must by now have guidelines on how the teachers can communicate and see how best some of the messages can be broken down to their level whiles he expects the Ghana Education Service, parents, nurses and doctors at the sick bay and teachers must be communicating to make sure everybody is speaking the same language.
Richard Bright Addo|3news.com|Ghana
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