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Conference of Directors of Private Pre-Tertiary Schools-Ghana has advised its members to allocate resources and ensure full implementation of the COVID-19 protocols in the school environment.

The Conference urged private school operators to strictly enforce the proper wearing of nose masks to contain the spread of the virus.

This was in a statement signed by Mr Philip Boateng Mensah, the President of the Conference and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Accra, following President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s update number 23 on measures to contain the spread of the COVID-19.

The President, in his address on Sunday, appealed to school authorities and teachers to enforce the guidelines by the Ghana Education Service (GES) on surveillance to contain the spread.

“A message as ‘Mask your Nose and Mouth’ can be on every person's lip in the school environment to prompt one another on the proper use of the mask. We must ensure that appropriate hand washing with soap and use of sanitizer become part of the daily routine within the school community,” it said.

The statement said it was important for the private education sector to respect and religiously follow the protocols to avoid a second shutdown of schools.

It called on the GES to expedite action on the distribution of the Personal Protective Equipment to all schools.

“We call on the GES to empower school health coordinators at the district levels with resources to conduct regular monitoring visits to the schools as a backup measure to enforce the protocols,” the statement said.

It bemoaned the non-adherence to COVID-19 safety protocols at market centres and other social gatherings and appealed to government to deploy the military to support the police in enforcing the protocols.

The statement said private schools were severely affected by the closure and could not afford another shut-down, hence the determination to support government to reverse the upward trend of infection.