About One Thousand Four Hundred and Twenty six (1,426) Basic and Senior Secondary schools in the Bono East Region undergo disinfection by Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
The exercise, which will cover both public and private basic schools, began on Wednesday in the Tanoso Presbyterian Basic School in the Techiman South Municipal Assembly of the Bono East Region.
The schools included Tanoso Presbyterian Basic school, Tanoso M/A JHS, Tuobodom D/A Basic school, Emmanuel Preparatory School Kintampo, Centre College of Education Senior High School Kintampo south among others.
The exercise formed part of measures by the central government to keep environs of basic schools safe and also protect the JHS pupils who are scheduled to report on Monday, October 5, 2020, from the Covid-19 disease.
According to Mr. Emmanuel Abasiya , District Manager Techiman South noted that Zoomlion would need the full cooperation of the heads of the schools that would facilitate their work.
He went on to assure that all the 1426 schools would be disinfected before the date of reopening on October 5, across the country.
On how they were going about the exercise, Mr Abasiya said they had a team of workers who move ahead and sweep the classrooms and the offices among others before the disinfection is done.
Because of the closure of schools for that long period, most of the schools’ compounds and facilities have become dirty, So Zoomlion workers moving ahead of the disinfection crews to sweep and clean the schools. And after that the disinfection teams come in and do the disinfection.
He also added that his outfit had disinfection crews who would be deployed to schools in various municipalities in the region to undertake the exercise.
At Tanoso M/A JHS, the Head Master Mr. Michael Marshal Futukpor, expressed his profound gratitude to the government and Zoomlion for the exercise. “This exercise is a step in the right direction because it is part of measures outlined by the government to contain the virus,” he said.
“On our part, we have bought the thermometer gun which would be used to take the temperatures of the JHS pupils on a daily basis. We are also expecting some Veronica buckets and other Covid-19 items from the government, and we have been assured that we will receive them before next week,” he added.
On the social distancing protocol, the Head Teacher Marshal Futukpor, was quick to assert that that would not be a problem, explaining that the school had spacious classrooms to accommodate the 30 pupils in a classroom.
“We have already met with parents of the pupils and educated them on the Covid-19 preventive protocols. That is not all; we have also resolved to educate the pupils when they report back to school and to ensure that we all adhere to the Covid-19 safety protocols,” he noted.
For his part, the Assistant teacher of Tanoso Presbyterian Basic School, Mr. Victor Opoku stressed that the exercise would help keep safe the school’s environment. Adding that it is a very good initiative because it will help disinfect the environment to make sure the environment is safe for teaching and learning.
“The school has put in place measures , our Veronica buckets are there , we have water, tissues. The JHS 3 students who left were given sanitizers when they came to school. So we are hoping that the government will release sanitizers for the form 2’s who are also coming on 5th of October”.
To him, this disinfecting exercise is very important because the covid 19 is not totally out of the country. “We really need this exercise to go on often because we don’t know when the virus will come and visit us. So we need to continue this exercise from time to time so that it can help prevent this pandemic.
Report by Bernard K DADAZIE