ACCRA, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Elementary schools across Ghana resumed on Monday for final-year pupils to prepare and sit for their final examinations with strict COVID-19 prevention measures in force.
Some 532,000 final-year pupils and 218,000 teaching and non-teaching staff will stay in school for the next 11 weeks before the pupils take their week-long examinations to qualify for entrance into senior high schools.
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said in his 13th COVID-19 broadcast that the government had made provision for personal protective equipment, hand sanitizers, and buckets for use in the schools to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among the pupils and their teachers.
He urged teachers to conduct their lessons under strict social distancing, while pupils and teachers adhere to the other protocols to prevent any possible outbreak of the pandemic in the schools.
"No breaks outside the classroom will be permitted; assemblies and sporting events are not allowed, and the use of school premises for religious and other activities by outsiders will not be tolerated," Akufo-Addo said.
The government shut down schools in mid-March after the first confirmed cases of the new coronavirus was reported in Ghana.
The total number of confirmed cases stood at 17,351 on Monday, with 12,994 recoveries and 112 deaths. Enditem
