The Minister of Education, Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has reacted to the concern of mass testing of the students before the reopening of schools by stating that the call to conduct mass testing was unfounded as general testing has never been part of the COVID-19 protocols.
In an interview with Samuel Eshun on the Happy Morning Show, he stated: “General testing has never been part of the protocols of COVID-19. Give me a country that has done mass testing before reopening schools? The president mentioned that we will follow the data and science to make decisions.
Even South Korea that opened schools did not test all the children before reopening schools. It has never been part of the COVID-19 protocols anywhere in the world. Those in the white house are tested twice every day. It is the only place in the world where they do that”.
He reasoned that even if students were to be tested before schools reopened, it would not be a guarantee that they will not contract the disease after that.
“Everyone understands that even if you tested negative today, you may test positive the next day. So we don’t test every day. That is why the testing comes in if someone begins to show signs of COVID-19 and then the person is isolated and health persons are alerted. That is the scientific way we do things”, he added.
In his tenth address to the nation, the president announced that Gold track students and final year students of secondary school return to school to prepare and write their exit examinations. This announcement sparked calls for mass testing of the students before school resumes.
This concern was intensified when some secondary schools recorded cases of COVID-19 weeks after schools reopened.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah