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The Central Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan, has launched a project that will witness the disinfection of 2,460 basic schools in the Central Region by Zoomlion Ghana Limited.

The number of schools to be disinfected include 882 public basic schools.

Additionally, Zoomlion is disinfecting all senior high schools within the region as final year Senior High Schools (SHS) students reopen on June 22, 2020.

The basic schools would be re-opening for the Junior High School (JHS 3) to continue their studies before sitting for the Basic Education Certificate Examinations.

Mr Duncan launched the programme at a stakeholders meeting to deliberate on how to support education and also prevent the spread of the virus among SHS and JHS students.

It was attended by the Regional Directors for both Health and Education, district directors from both the health as well as education sectors, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) and personnel from the Ghana Police Service.

It sought to tackle unexpected challenges and how to formulate policies and programmes in addressing the identified challenges.

Mr Duncan commended Zoomlion Company Limited for the role the company was playing in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted that the disinfection had become critical as the nation focuses on policies that would halt the spread of the virus.

He urged educational authorities to collaborate with relevant stakeholders in ensuring that pupils adhere to the required safety protocols.

Mrs Emma Akyea Boakye, Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs at Zoomlion Company Limited, in her remarks, said, the company would continue partnering with the education ministry and government in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

She said, Zoomlion had so far disinfected the senior high schools twice on two consecutive times and urged the educational institutions to ensure that they adhere to all safety protocols.

The Central Regional Director of Education, Mrs Martha Owusu Agyemang in an address, said that,  all SHSs within the region had been mapped to a health facility and said personnel have been given the needed training to manage cases.

She said each SHS is to maintain not more than 25 students in a classroom, saying, “There should not be mass gathering in a school.”

For the JHS category, she said, schools would re-open on June 29, 2020  for final year JHS students and said, the students would be in school for four hours, each day that is from 9am to 1pm.

Each class, she said, was to have 30 students but was quick to say that, parents should support their children as well as school authorities.