Jackson College of Education (JCE), Ghana’s leading private College of Education, as part of its corporate social responsibility, is embarking on a nationwide campaign to combat the coronavirus pandemic in Ghana.
The College in collaboration with Sinapi Aba Savings and Loans has launched the campaign at a brief but impressive ceremony in Kumasi, with a call on government to scale up efforts to contain the deadly disease.
Staff of the two institutions displayed placards with various messages to create awareness on the disease and also drew attention on strict adherence to all recommended safety protocols.
Mrs. Theodosia Jackson, the Principal of Jackson College of Education, called on government to intensify public education to help compliance or enforcement on all safety protocols or laws by all Ghanaians to collectively defeat the disease.
She was of the view that the national response plan to contain the virus had been relaxed in the last few months as people flout the protocols with so much impunity despite increasing numbers of confirmed cases.
She said the stringent measures put in place by government during the partial lockdown especially in the markets must be revisited to halt the increasing cases of the COVID-19.
“There is too much indiscipline in our markets as far as compliance to the precautionary measures is concerned. People are flouting the protocols as if the disease doesn’t exist”, she lamented.
Strict enforcement of the protocols in the churches, she noted, would amount to nothing if urgent steps are not taken to check the recklessness in the markets and other public places.
“The very people in the markets attend various churches across the country so failure to enforce the safety protocols in the markets makes the church unsafe”, Mrs. Jackson pointed out.
She added that it is unfair for some sections of the population to disregard the protocols and endanger the lives of others and called on the government to step up the COVID-19 fight before the situation gets out of hand.
Mrs. Jackson also charged Chief Executives of District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies to pay particular attention to markets by ensuring strict enforcement of the protocols, adding that offenders must be punished to serve as deterrent to others.
She called for the reintroduction of the shift system where market women take turns to sell their wares in the markets to ensure social distancing at all times.
Mrs. Vida Marfo, Head of Banking of Sinapi Aba Savings appealed to market women to value their lives by observing all the safety protocols to help stop the spread of the virus.
She said it is the collective responsibility of every Ghanaian to join the fight against COVID-19 in the interest of public health.
