Former General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) David Ofori Acheampong has asked the government to do widen consultations before reopening schools in the wake of the Covid-19 measures.

He told Alfred Ocansey on Sunrise on 3FM Tuesday that the safety of school children and Ghanaians in general must be the topmost priority for government in taking the decision to reopen schools.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has announced that stakeholder consultations are taking place on the way forward toward the easing of Covid-19 restrictions so that the social and economic lives of Ghanaians “can go back to normal”

“I expect these consultations to conclude this week,” he said at a virtual national Eid-ul Fitr celebration on Sunday, May 24, adding: “So that I can announce to Ghanaians a clear roadmap for easing the restrictions”.

“We have to find a way back, but in safety, for we cannot be under these restrictions forever,” the President said.

Ghana recorded 156 new cases of Covid-19 raising the figure to 6,964, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) said on Tuesday, May 26.

Mr Ofori Achemapong stated that there is the need to look at the safety measures “before one can say that we can go back. I believe that it is right that we are talking about bringing life back to normal but the point is that if safety is not the key ingredient then there will be a serious [problem] in our country”.

Meanwhile, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Deputy Education Minister in charge of Basic and Secondary Education, says the Ghana Education Service (GES) is currently engaging stakeholders on a possible reopening of schools.

Schools were closed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo as part of the measures to curtail the spread of the coronavirus outbreak.

The president placed a ban on all gatherings including political rallies, church service and large funerals due to the pandemic.