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The management of Achimota Senior High School has eased the restriction on parents and guardians from visiting the institution after COVID-19 cases in the school has been brought under control.

Under the modalities put in place, parents and guardians are allowed to take parcels devoid of cooked food to their children and wards and deposit them at the doorstep of the bungalows of the house staff.

“As promised by the school administration almost a fortnight ago with regard to visiting due to measures put in place to mitigate the COVID-19 effect, we wish to inform you of the modalities put in place. Sunday July 18, 2021 is open for both senior high school (SHS) Two and SHS Three parents/guardians to send parcels to their children/wards,” a message to parent/guardians, sighted by the Daily Graphic, said.

Read also: GHS confirms spread of 'Delta' variant of COVID-19 at Achimota School; 46 active cases on campus

Visit

In line with that, the Daily Graphic visited the school last Sunday to ascertain how parents and guardians had received the information and what they were doing to that effect.

It was observed that for the first time in two weeks, parents could be seen trooping in and out to drop parcels for their children.

While some conveyed their parcels aboard private vehicles, others hired the services of taxi cabs to transport parcels to their children.

The items they took included bottled water and bags of sachet water, hand sanitiser, assorted soap and detergents, face masks, provisions and some pocket money.

They were dropped by the parents at the various houses of residence and were received by the house staff. Everywhere on campus was calm at the time the Graphic team visited.

After dropping the items, the parents were then asked to leave as whatever they brought would be presented to the rightful owners.

Excitement

Some parents expressed their excitement at being able to visit the school again after they were asked to hold on in the wake of the COVID-19 situation in the school.

Madam Mariama Briamah lauded the decision taken by the school authorities, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to contain the spread of the virus among other things.

“We know that whatever they did was for the good of our children. At first I was worried, but after coming here to see the situation on the ground, I realised that the intervention by the authorities had been taken to protect both the families at home and the students in school,” she said.

Stakeholders

Another parent, Mrs Gloria Badu, said all the stakeholders must be commended for ensuring sanity on campus after news of the outbreak was confirmed  “as the situation has been controlled very well with everything going on smoothly”.

Madam Gifty Pomaa, who came all the way from Berekum in the Bono Region, said her heart was now at ease after seeing that her child was safe and alright.

Mr Sampson Ewoade, a parent, said he was okay with the arrangement of the school although he would have wished to see his child.

For him, the efforts put in place by the government and its agencies had worked very well and not disrupted academic activities.

Easing restrictions

Since July 8, the school authorities have had to keep away all visitors as part of the measures to curb the further spread of the infection in the school.

However, in easing the restrictions, the information to parents and guardians further read: “After the Sunday, July 18, 2021 parcel delivery, we will go back to the previous arrangement of first Sundays - SHS Threes, Second Sundays - SHS Ones and Third Sundays - SHS Twos of every month for parcels (devoid of cooked food), delivery only, between the hours of 2 p.m. and 5 p.m”.

It said no parcel would get to student(s) whose year group fell outside the allocated days for parcel delivery, warning that any student(s) found to have had physical contact with the parent/guardian or any relation would be dealt with accordingly.

“Parents and guardians are encouraged to strictly comply with the above procedure as the school management takes steps to achieve zero COVID-19 record case in the school. In the event of parents/guardians abusing these procedures,the school administration will unreservedly withdraw this privilege until further notice,” the message from the senior housemaster for the headmistress, said.

Background

On July 4, the GHS confirmed the spread of the 'Delta' variant of the coronavirus disease at the Achimota School in Accra.

It said at that time, a total of 135 students and teachers had tested positive for the virus on campus with various variants.

The GHS went on to test 1,118 samples as part of measures to contain the outbreak of the infection. Out of the number, 183 were positive with 48 active cases as 135 had been discharged based on the national 14-day discharge policy.

In view of the situation, the authorities restricted movement to and from the school to help prevent community spread.