Ensuring safety of pupils from Covid-19: Talented Royals sets the pace

As schools resume after over ten months of close down due to the Coronavirus pandemic, many are expressing fears for pupils amidst the second wave of the pandemic in Ghana.

With Ghana’s active cases standing at 1,924 and over 350 fatalities, many have expressed skepticism with the reopening directive.

However, an observation from Talented Royals International School, a private institution off the Gbawe – Kasoa Highway has caught the eyes of many in terms of ensuring the safety of pupils.

Aside from the testing of temperature and washing of hands at the school’s entrance, there is a body disinfectant that disinfects every individual that enters the school’s premises.

This is coupled with sensor sanitisers at the entrance of each classroom where pupils can sanitise their hands at any point in time, whereas Veronica buckets and soaps are displayed at the entrance of each classroom for hand washing.

Speaking with the Director of the school, Edward Afful, he indicated the virus has become a part of life and explained the rationale for the extra measures the school has adopted for the reopening.

“Covid-19 has come to stay with us [and] we don’t know when it will leave us. That’s why Talented Royals, together with our stakeholders, sat to agree with measures for the safety of the kids”, adding that, that is the reason they have the ” disinfectant machine at the entrance so before you even enter into our compound, your whole body needs to be screened,” he explained.

He further noted the pupils would be required to intermittently observe some of the protocols for optimum protection.

“What we plan doing is that, at certain points in time, whilst they are learning, we will ask them to all go and wash their hands and return to the class,” he stated.

The purpose for this he noted was to “save the child first, the parents at home as well as the teachers on campus.”

Let alone, he averred adherence to social distancing is strictly enforced in both their school buses as well as the classrooms as “we have a certain number a class is supposed to take and we don’t take above that.”

Per the directive from the Ghana Education Service, Mr. Afful underscored the importance of not bringing the pupils together to engage them in many of their activities so that they can have the freedom to study in their classrooms.

Regarding how social distancing would be ensured amongst preschool to kindergarten kids during playtime, Mr. Afful assured “Talented Royals don’t only rely on academics. We also believe in talents building so we have the facilities here. We have the studios and other things that, if a child’s time is up to do talent building, those who’ll like to go to the piano session, live studio, brass band session and all that can go so we blend all these together to ensure the child doesn’t become bored.” He said these extracurricular activities geared towards talents building will minimise contacts amongst the children.

The Director encouraged all parents to send their wards to school and “liaise with authorities to help build them well for a better future”, without fearing the virus.

Concerns of parents over protocols

Meanwhile, Ghanas Online engaged some parents to share how safe they feel their wards would be with the protocols in place.

Emelia Bobi noted even though kids are difficult to contain in terms of restraining their mingling, she was optimistic of their safety because of the protocols, emphasising “I know with all these protocols, our kids are safe.”

“When I entered here this morning, at the entrance they’ve placed a particular spray there where parents and pupils pass. There’s a guy who scans you and when I passed through the screener, I was very impressed because I think that’s medicated and they have water everywhere to wash their hands so so far, I think the measures put in place by the school is impressive,” Oprah Williams, another parent added.

Joseph Okoye, another parent, reiterated how impressed he was with the protocols in place, with Nana Yaa, also a parent, adding “from what I’ve seen so far, I think the school has put in a lot of measures to ensure the safety of the kids. They ensure that each of the students bring their own tissues, water bottles, enough soap and also to avoid minimum contact. The sanitisers, Veronica buckets, the screener and other things are here so it’s quite safe here. Very very safe.”