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Re-open schools gradually—CRI
The Executive Director of Child Rights International (CRI), Mr Bright Appiah, has called on the government to hasten slowly in its decision to re-open schools on the mass level.
According to him, the government should adopt a gradual approach where final year students due for exams should first be allowed to resume classes as a test case for broader school re-opening.
Additionally, students who were due for their turn on the double tracking system must also be allowed to resume school since they have a backlog of activities to undertake.
In the meantime, Mr Appiah said all nursery and kindergartens schools should remain closed indefinitely whiles the government focuses on developing more online programmes for parents to take up that role.
“Corporate institutions must make it a deliberate policy for more parents to spent time with their children. More so, the government should engage the work of social workers to periodically do home visits,” he said in a statement issued and copied the Ghanaian Times.
Mr Appiah said, these measures would give the government the enabling environment to have a broader picture of how re-opening school on the mass level would be.
“By so doing, the government would have gotten to know how to handle and assess the impact of re-opening schools on the mass level. This is the only way to halt any decision that might spell doom for the country’s educational sector,” he said
He said the state must bear in mind that any wrong approach could spell doom for children and Ghana’s attempt to contain the coronavirus disease.
He said although CRI was not entirely against the re-opening of schools, it would be needful to undertake the process gradually, beginning with final year students.
Per Mr Appiah’s assertion, it would be beneficial and wise to begin the steps of re-opening school starting with final year students at the Junior and Senior High School level.
“CRI believes that the government should first allow those who are due for examination to go back to school following the protocols of social distancing and any other precautionary measures laid down by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) against the coronavirus,” he said in the statement.
Mr Appiah said there must be a collaboration between GHS and schools in rolling out any measures to re-open schools.
Mr Appiah said as the country’s coronavirus case stood, it would be disadvantageous for nursery, kindergarten, primary and continuing students to be allowed to go back to school, adding that schools must be closed to these categories of students.
Medical Doctor and dietician, Dr Bernice Korkor Asare, has urged women to take greater responsibility for their lifestyle choices, particularly their eating habits and levels of physical activity, to help reduce their risk of developing breast cancer.
According to her, although, some breast cancer risk factors, such as family history and certain reproductive factors, may not be within an individual’s control, lifestyle choices offer an opportunity for people to take preventive action.
She made this known during a talk on the topic: “Role of diet in breast cancer prevention” organised by Times Ladies Association of the New Times Corporation, publishers of The Ghanaian Times and The Spectator, in Accra on Thursday.
The event themed “Breast Cancer Awareness- Promoting Early Detection, Healthy Eating and Prevention.” 
She noted that having a risk factor did not automatically mean a person would develop breast cancer, but could increase the likelihood of developing the disease compared with someone without that particular risk factor.
“Having close relatives who have had breast cancer, particularly a mother, sister or daughter, may increase the risk, although not everyone with a family history will develop the disease,” Dr Asare opined. Read More.
By Adizatu K. Munkaila
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A group of compassionate friends from Innovation Gospel Impact last Friday visited the management, teachers and learners of the Street Academy in Accra.
The visit was to interact to get a deeper insight into the operations of the Academy that houses hundreds of street and underprivileged children and find ways to support them.
The team was led by Rev. Dr Isaac Apenteng Yeboah, a former Director for West African Mailbox Club and Director for Prisons Support Foundation, and Rev. Dale Sutherland from Washington DC.
The call, according to the visitors was occasioned by reports about the struggles of the Academy despite the occasional support it enjoys from individuals and some corporate entities.
Briefing them, the Founder and Executive Director of the Academy, Dr Ataa Lartey, thanked them for the concern showed, indicating that “this is a major boost for both teachers and learners; knowing that their plight is known by people outside their premises.”
According Dr Lartey, the Academy had planned to undertake a number of project to enhance teaching and learning and also procure facilities for the children with keen interest in sports but had to shelve those plans for lack of finance.
He told the team that their biggest concerns were the monthly utility bills that takes a toll on their finances.
“We have a piece of land we planned to turn into an astro turf pitch to train the younger ones whose interests lies in making a career out of football, however, we have been unable to commence because there is no money now,” he said.
Dr Lartey expressed gratitude to the teachers who have dedicated their lives to training these children, rather than going for well-paying jobs and hoped that with time, their conditions of engagement would improve.
Moved by the plight of the Academy, the group donated a cash amount of Gh₵3,000 to settle its water bills.
They described as unfortunate the conditions of learners and teachers of the Academy and pledged to continuously support their operations to realize the dream to build a better future for the unfortunate children.
The group offered to support the school with its monthly utility bills, feeding and staff allowance and urged the Academy staff to remain in constant touch with them.
The Street Academy is located at the Accra Art Center and offers brilliant but needy the chance to pursue their educational dreams by enrolling them in public schools with others offered training in sports and cultural activities.
By Spectator Reporter
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