Mrs Eugenia Gifty Kusi, Deputy Western Regional Minister has commended Heads of second cycle schools in the Region for strictly observing the COVID-19 safety protocols.

She noted that though some schools have recorded positive cases of the virus, the Regional Coordinating Council in collaboration with the Ghana Service have put in place the necessary measures to help prevent the virus from further spread.

Mrs Kusi said this when she visited some selected schools in the Region to ascertain how they were coping with the ongoing WASSCE amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The schools visited were the Daboase Senior High School, Archbishop Porter Girls, Bompeh Senior High School, Fijai Senior High School.

The Deputy Minister gave the assurance that all the schools in the Region would be visited before the end of the WASSCE and that schools that have peculiar problems would be addressed immediately.

COVID-19 cases in schools visited showed that as of 23 July 2020, Archbishop Porter Girls School had the highest number of four cases out of 99 samples taken with 23 testing negative and 72 cases pending release of results.

Mr Kenneth Agbomodzi Headmaster of Fijai Senior High School said in his school, out of the eight samples taken, only one case tested positive for COVID-19 with seven cases pending awaiting results.

For his part, Mr Joseph Borketey Laweh, Headmaster of Bompeh SHS pointed out that it had not been easy coping with the safety protocols and the writing of WASSCE, though his school had not recorded any case. . He indicated that the school had infrastructure deficit and with the social distancing in the school, his outfit had to liaise with the authorities of Perry Hayford Basic School to use some of their classrooms so ensure proper physical distancing.

He, however, suggested that work on a 14 classroom block Getfund project should speed up to help address the situation.

He mentioned the lack of a school bus and poor drainage system as some of the problems, which resulted in the school getting flooded anytime it rained.