NCCE, ISD must step up education on COVID-19

The government yesterday lifted the three-week partial lockdown imposed on the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi Metropolitan areas, Tema and Kasoa.

Although the lifting of the partial lockdown by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo can be said to have come as a relief to the many whose livelihoods may have been hit hard following the imposition in spite of the Coronavirus case count increasing to 1,042, it also remains true that there is a lot more to be done to flatten the rising curve of COVID-19 cases.

It is worrying that some people are still not adhering to safety protocols, including the use of nose masks and sanitisers, social distancing and regular handwashing with soap under running water.

That is the more reason why as a country we will need an intensified public education, sensitisation and enhanced surveillance to get the citizenry to adhere strictly to all the recommended health protocols needed to help the country overcome the scary global pandemic.

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Information Services Department (ISD) of the Ministry of Information have a big role to play in leading the way to educate and sensitise the citizenry to their individual roles and responsibilities in the fight against COVID-19 spread.

Per their constitutional mandate, the NCCE, among others, is expected to formulate, implement and oversee programmes intended to inculcate in the citizenry an awareness of their civic responsibilities and an appreciation of their rights and obligations as a free people while the ISD, which serves as the government’s major public relations unit, is mandated to create awareness of government policies, programmes and activities and also get feedback from the public to the government.

But, it appears over the period, the two institutions have been struggling to discharge their constitutionally mandated functions to the broad satisfaction of the people.

The reasons, according to the institutions, are largely about the lack of funds and logistics to aid their operational activities.

Nevertheless, we at the Daily Graphic believe that while that argument may hold there is the need for our government to beef up support to the two institutions to enable them to discharge their functions effectively.

We think that both the NCCE and the ISD can engage other stakeholders, such as the media, civil society organisations, faith-based organisations, opinion leaders and traditional authorities for partnerships. The NCCE, for instance, also receives support from external partners.

But all in all, the critical strategic steps towards the discharge of their functions must come from them.

It is when the citizens and all stakeholders attest to their various functions that they can engender confidence, trust and support.

It is disquieting that with COVID-19 breathing scarily on our necks, we hardly hear of the NCCE or the ISD educating the citizenry on what to do and what not to do.

Some education is going on by the central government but we think that the NCCE and the ISD must take up the challenge in getting critical information to the people on COVID-19.

If we are to overcome the pain of COVID-19, it will come from an informed citizenry, who know what to do and how to do it at the right time.

The Daily Graphic, therefore, expects the NCCE and the ISD to educate Ghanaians well on the COVID-19 pandemic. This will require that they visit communities and markets to educate Ghanaians on the preventive measures and the protocols on COVID-19.