So why don’t we render the whole academic year null and void? And we start afresh in September. So in that case, no one is going to be promoted. We start all over again. Maybe, by that time we would have discovered a vaccine. Otherwise, going back to school right now is akin to a knee-jerk reaction. Even if we don’t discover the vaccine by that time, at least we would have delayed the negative consequences we are likely to experience if we resume earlier.
So, in my opinion, no BECE and WASSCE this year. It won’t spoil anything. And those in P1 should be in P1, those in P2 should remain in P2 in that order up to SHS 3. Even the advantage is that they will get the chance to relearn what they have been taught before. It will even serve as a form of revision. Teachers will also get the chance to complete their syllabuses this time round.
If we resume now, some parents won’t allow their wards to go to school for fear of the disease. And guaranteed, even if we resume in September (and render the current academic void as I posited earlier) , still some parents won’t allow their kids to go. But you know what? Even if that occurrence pops up in September, the studies of such children will not be very much affected vis a vis resuming now. Why? Because the next academic year is virtually going to be a revision year.
So in my opinion, let us start afresh in September. And even if we are lucky by that time (i.e September) a vaccine would have been discovered. As I said earlier, even if we don’t discover the vaccine by that time, we would have delayed some contractions of the disease and possible deaths that would have occurred as a result of we resuming earlier.
Some people suggest we should provide nose masks in schools. Great idea! But aside the cost, come to think of it – a Nursery, kindergarten or lower primary student wearing masks from morning to 2pm. It will not be that simple. Some will even exchange items like pens and pencils with their colleagues. Is it only pens and pencils alone? Some will even exchange nose masks.
Okay, assuming a student is asthmatic or has a breathing problem. How does that pan out? As for the hand sanitizers, some of the nursery and KG students may even drink it at the blind side of teachers if accidentally placed at the wrong place. And I bet you it will happen at one or two locations.
Some also suggest that we should allow the jhs and shs final year students to go back to school. Where are we rushing to? Who are we competing with? Who is chasing us? If our younger brothers write BECE and WASSCE and contact Corona, what do we gain?
To draw the curtains, all I am conveying is that let’s start afresh in September! Let us delay and postpone the deaths of some of our children who might die due to Corona.
Written By:Innocent Akwasi Boachie (I’m Innocent),
A Concerned Professional Instructor