60 selected pupils from six junior high schools in Kpong in the Eastern Region have been trained as agents of change to serve as ambassadors in ongoing efforts to curb the spread of the COVID-19.

The nonprofit non-governmental organization (NGO), Rescue Volunteers Ghana held a day’s workshop for the students drawn from six schools in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipal including Kpong Islamic JHS, Kpong Ahudzo JHS, Kpong Presby JHS, Kpong EP JHS, Kpong Methodist JHS and Kpong Quarters JHS at the Ensign College of Public Health (ECPH).

The participating schools were enlightened on the various coronavirus prevention measures including proper and regular handwashing, use of hand sanitisers, face masks and the observance of social distancing as well as the ongoing vaccination exercise.

The NGO also donated various PPEs including nose masks and pocket hand sanitisers to the schools to be used by the selected pupils as demonstration items to their peers and members of the communities.

Held under the theme; ‘keeping students safe,’ the school representatives, as part of the event, were trained on the proper use of PPEs and charged to appreciate their role in the fight against the pandemic.

Country Coordinator for Rescue Volunteers Ghana, Lydia Tsotsoo Odai-Tettey explained that the event formed part of a nationwide project to ensure that as many Ghanaians as possible took personal measures to ensure that they remained safe from the coronavirus pandemic.

“This whole COVID-19 project is to ensure that a lot of Ghanaians remain safe, that Ghanaians become responsible for themselves. We don’t have to look forward to government to do everything for us,” she said.

The exercise formed part of the second phase of the NGO’s COVID-19 awareness campaign put together in junction with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to train selected pupils in various schools as its representatives in the various communities.

Personnel of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Ghana Health Service (GHS), Ensign College of Public Health (ECPH), Rescue Volunteers Ghana and the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) took turns to educate the pupils on various topics.

Explaining the aims and objectives behind the NGO’s activities, Miss Odai-Tettey said the second phase of its project is targeted at ensuring that students, from primary to senior high school who may not partake in the ongoing vaccination exercise against the coronavirus are also safe.

“We decided to embark on the second phase of our COVID-19 awareness campaign to focus on students to augment the efforts of government in order to be sure that the students we are targeting, from primary school to JHS who will not take the vaccine will make sure they are also safe and their parents as well.

“The government has done its part by sharing what it can but the responsibility lies on parents, teachers and the students themselves to keep our students safe,” she said.

Madam Rose Lawer who is the Municipal Health Promotion Officer as part of her presentation on behalf of the GHS encouraged the students to take the various COVID-19 protocols seriously as it was the most effective way to end the pandemic.

She disclosed there were currently no positive coronavirus cases in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality, adding that all students who tested positive for the virus in the various schools in the municipality had fully recovered, a situation she attributed to the observance of the protocols.

Chairman of the occasion who is a faculty member and Medical Director of the Ensign College of Public Health, Dr. Edward Kofi Sutherland described the event as an important one geared at ensuring the safety of students.

Dr. Sutherland who also serves as the Site Director for the West Africa, Center for Global Surgery of the University of Utah commended the collaborative effort between Rescue Volunteers Ghana, GES, GHS and the ECPH aimed at fighting the global pandemic in the community.

He was confident that the role being played by the various stakeholders including the GHS and GES by sharing information with the pupils would go a long way in destigmatizing the community through the pupils who are going to serve as agents of change and promote COVID-19 awareness in their communities.

SHEP Coordinator at the Lower Manya Krobo Education Directorate, Mr Godfred Ofoe Caesar who facilitated and liaised with the NGO for the exercise said the move was to complement the efforts being made by government in the fight against COVID-19.

He was convinced that the PPEs and education given the pupils will go a long way to assist in the fight against the pandemic.

As part of efforts to ensure the compliance of coronavirus protocols in schools, the Mr. Caesar said his office was in direct correlation with the school-based health coordinators in the various schools who are liaisons in terms of health education.

Head of supervision at GES, Mr. Samuel Kpabitey who sat in for the Municipal Education Director, Mr. Williams Kofi Odoi expressed his profound gratitude to Rescue Volunteers Ghana for the project.

He assured the Country Coordinator and her team that the items donated would be put to good use to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

According to him, the education director together with other officials would monitor the use of the PPE donated by the NGO in the schools just as it currently observes the use of other PPE in the schools.

Teachers and school heads were also encouraged to ensure maximum supervision and enforcement of all the protocols by the students.

The pupils were also given the room to ask their questions pertaining to the spread of the disease, preventive measures as well as vaccination exercise.