Don't charge or demand COVID-19 test results before admission - GES to schools

The Ghana Education Service (GES) says students are not required to take COVID-19 tests before being admitted to school.

According to the Director General of the GES, Professor Kwasi Opoku Amankwa, any demand from a school for a COVID-19 test before admission was illegal.

Likewise, he said, no school was allowed to charge any fee in the name of conducting a COVID-19 test for students.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Sunday, December 3, announced the resumption of schools at all levels beginning Saturday, January 9, 2021 after they were shut down on March 16, 2020, as part of measures to stem the spread of the Coronavirus disease in Ghana.

Addressing a press conference in Accra on Monday, Prof Amankwa reiterated that government had made provision for personal protective equipment (PPE) to be presented to all schools, including private institutions.

“The arrangements for reopening of schools, the PPE that we are putting in place include private schools. But the issue of text books, the issue of school fees are not part of that arrangement,” he said.

He added that if there would be the need for COVID-19 tests to be done, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) would spearhead that.