The government has committed GH¢75.4 million to cater for the fees of the 313,837 final year Senior High School students writing this year’s West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination.
The move by the state is to help ameliorate the impact of the pandemic on the livelihoods of households.
Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, said this during the 2020 mid-year budget review budget presented to Parliament in Accra.
He said to protect 532,000 Junior High School final year students and 218,000 teaching and non-teaching staff, the government distributed 45,000 Veronica Buckets, 90,000 gallons of liquid soap, 90,000 rolls of paper towels, 40,000 thermometer guns, 750,000 pieces of 200-ml sanitizers, and 2.2 million re-usable face masks.
Mr Ofori-Atta said the re-opening of the schools on June 29 was preceded by the fumigation and disinfection of the 17,439 schools across the country.
He said the final year Senior High School students, teaching and non-teaching staff, invigilators and school administrators, were also provided with 2.4 million pieces of re-usable face masks with each person receiving three pieces.
The Finance Minister said to enhance the maintenance of hygiene protocols, the government distributed 18,000 Veronica Buckets, 800,000 pieces of 200-ml sanitizers, 36,000 rolls of paper towel, 36,000 gallons of liquid soap, and 7,200 thermometer guns to all SHS institutions.
Touching on final year students at the tertiary level, he said, a total of 600,000 face masks were supplied to the tertiary institutions.
“In so doing, every student, teaching and non-teaching staff received three re-usable face masks. In addition to this, 1,700 Veronica buckets, 200,000 litres of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, 3,400 litres of liquid soap, and 900 thermometer guns were distributed,” he said.
GNA
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