Mr Jeffery Adda, the Builsa North District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in the Upper East Region says self-education and attitudinal change among citizens are needed to contain the spread of COVID-19.

He called on members of the public to imbibe in themselves the culture of self-education to acquire knowledge on the COVID-19 protocols and also propagate the message in their various communities.

“Even though we are doing our part as a Commission, to sensitize the general public, we cannot do it all,” Mr Adda said in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Sandema.

He said the media and other stakeholders including citizens, need to join the NCCE in the COVID-19 education in the District and across the entire country.

The Director said the NCCE has the constitutional mandate to undertake civic education on rights and responsibilities of members of the public and reiterated the need for citizens to educate themselves on the COVID-19 safety protocols and adhere to same.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is real, and we as NCCE have been tasked by the President to reach out to Ghanaians to sensitize them on the reality of the pandemic, it is our duty to inform members of the public on the need to observe the safety protocols,” he said.

In line with the Commission’s mandate to educate citizens, a public address system was mounted on its vehicle which moves into communities in the District to propagate safety precautionary messages mostly in ‘Buli,’ the local dialect.

Mr Adda said the NCCE visited several communities in the District including Seniensi, Zogsa, Kaasa and Yikpieng to educate them on how to properly wash their hands, put on their face masks and how to remove it.

He said even though they had challenges in the exercise, “Once the disease is here with us, we have to make sure we hit every corner, every village, and every hamlet of this District.”

The GNA observed that in spite of the education from his outfit, most prospective registrants at designated centres for the Ghana Card registration exercise, especially at Sandema, defied the Ghana Health Service protocols of social distancing and the use of face masks.

Responding to the attitude of registrants at the designated centres for the Ghana Card registration which seemed to suggest efforts of the NCCE was in vain, Mr Adda said, “this has to do with attitudinal change. It will take time, but we hope that with the rest of the days, things will change.”

“We have gone round the centres, both the voters’ registration and Ghana Card registration centres and encouraged officials there to constantly educate the people to observe the protocols.”