Kumasi, July 22, GNA – The Jackson College of Education, as part of its corporate social responsibility, is embarking on a nationwide educational campaign to help combat the spread of COVID-19.
The campaign, being undertaken in collaboration with Sinapa Aba Savings and Loans, was launched in Kumasi on Wednesday.
Staff of the two institutions displayed placards with various messages to create public awareness on the disease and the need for strict adherence to all recommended safety protocols.
Mrs Theodosia Jackson, the Principal of the College, speaking at the launch, called on the Government to intensify public education as well as enforcement of compliance by all Ghanaians to collectively defeat the disease.
She expressed the view that the national response plan for containment had been relaxed in the last few months as people flouted the protocols with so much impunity, despite the increasing numbers of confirmed cases.
Mrs Jackson said the stringent measures put in place by the Government during the partial lockdown, especially at the markets, must be revisited to halt the increasing cases of the coronavirus.
“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 said.
Strict enforcement of the protocols in the churches, she said, would amount to nothing if urgent steps were not taken to check the recklessness at 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 said it was 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 got out of control.
She charged the chief executives of the 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 took turns to sell their wares to ensure social distancing at all times.
Mrs Vida Marfo, Head of Banking of Sinapi Aba Savings, appealed to market women to be conscious of their own safety by observing all the protocols to stop the spread of the virus.
She said it was the collective responsibility of every Ghanaian to join the fight against COVID-19 in the interest of public health.
