Currently, all universities, senior and junior high schools, as well primary schools and kindergartens both public and private, have been closed down, effective Monday, March 16, 2020, with even Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) candidates who were initially asked to continue to attend school being dispatched home as part of enhanced measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That became necessary following the decision by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to postpone the writing of the WASSCE until further notice, a decision we at the Daily Graphic support. After all, the examination timetable was crafted by experts under the supervision of the council and it can, therefore, be altered when the need arises.

That decision by WAEC is crucial, particularly so when the issue involves health and safety, for it is said the first law of nature is to protect lives, or safety first.

It is refreshing that the President heeded the plea of teacher unions in the country, which had appealed to him to consider the risk to which the examination candidates would be exposed if he did not include them in the shutdown.

The unions also appealed to the President to liaise with other member countries of the WAEC to postpone the writing of the WASSCE.

The Daily Graphic applauds President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, all his colleague heads of state of the member countries of WAEC and the WAEC Council Chairman and members for taking the bold decision in the interest of our children and for the good of all member nations.

We thank the teacher unions for not resorting to radicalism, such as demonstrations and confrontation, but rather took the path of dialogue and appeals.
This is how we all expect from organised bodies when there is the need to address issues.

Now that all the candidates, both BECE and WASSCE, are home, the onus lies on parents to monitor them and ensure that they remain with their books and do not see their being at home as a holiday but an extension of the teaching-learning period, so that whenever they are called back to school, it would not appear as if everything that they were taught has vanished into thin air.

We also expect schools and particularly subject teachers to devise ways such as through whatsApp and other social media platforms, to engage these students with assignments and project works, so that the students will remain busy throughout the period.

Additionally, we expect that while they are home, the students will follow all the laid down and prescribed protocols to stay safe from the pandemic.

As President Akufo-Addo said, these are not normal times, and all of us must understand it as such.

We know with the support of our dedicated teachers and the contribution of parents it is possible for our candidates to be prepared adequately even in these trying times to come out successfully in their examinations anytime they are called to write their papers.