President Akufo-Addo
Universities in the country have resolved to reopen on Monday, June 15, to enable final year students to complete their education.
At a meeting with President Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House yesterday, the Chairman of Vice Chancellors Ghana, which is made up of Vice Chancellors of all public universities in the country, Professor Ebenezer Oduro, who is also Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, assured the President that all public universities would resume academic work as directed.
“You gave an order (Presidential order) that universities should reopen on the 15th of June. I think sometime last week, some of the media carried news items on it, and I’m sure probably some may have gotten to you that some universities have defied the President’s orders and are unwilling to reopen. Mr. President, let me assure you that that is not the case at all; all universities are willing to reopen and none of us is defying your orders,” the Legon VC assured the President.
He emphasized that “come the 15th of June, that is Monday, all universities will reopen as you have directed. We believe that the orders were given in some contest and that tells us that we need also to apply wisdom and some level of discretion in getting the students to campus to complete their academic work.”
He, however, indicated that in the absence of personal protective equipment (PPE), it would be difficult to encourage lecturers and students to meet.
Both President Akufo-Addo and Education Minister Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh reiterated that the government would provide adequate PPE this weekend to both lecturers and students and asked the schools to strictly enforce the protocols on social distancing and the wearing of face masks.
The President justified his decision to lift restrictions on not only final year university students but also final year students in the various levels of education in the country.
“We know here in Ghana, we have examples; very painful examples of what happened to generations of Ghanaians who had their education interrupted, sometimes by purely political events not by pandemics… If there is any way we can prevent this generation from also suffering from a pandemic, we should do so,” President Akufo-Addo stressed.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent