May 12

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DAILY HERITAGE MAY 12, 2020
Students cry against Covid-19
BY JEANNETTE ADDO
SOME GHANAIAN tertiary
students have described the
pause in school attendance as
a major setback as the country
battles the coronavirus as it
takes its toll. Stuck at home
with lectures on hold, graduation plans
abandoned, many students fear the crisis
could have major implications for their
education. For students who have a few
months to complete school, being unable
to finish with their project work,
they say this will affect their completion
process, delaying the number of months
left to complete school.
Ghana had its first Covid-19 case announced
on Thursday, March 12, 2020,
by the Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu.
The President; H.E Nana
Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, then addressed
the nation afterwards. In that address
and the subsequent one on Sunday
the 15th of March, he announced the
closure of all universities, secondary and
basic schools, beginning on the Monday,
March 16. The closure of schools, although
beneficial as a way of preventing
the spread, has had some sort of negative
impact mostly on the students. The
Ministry of Education, however, has introduced
other ways to facilitate learning
through traditional, social and online
media.
Addressing the press on Tuesday,
March 24, the Education Minister,
Matthew Opoku Prempeh, said almost
all the five universities to which the 46
Colleges of Education are affiliated have
many modern systems employed for the
benefit of all the colleges.
“In the tertiary space, we did invite
some of the universities that were in
close proximity to participate in the technical
discussions and we realized that almost
all the traditional universities have
functional learning management systems
which may require skill in order to make
the service available to students”.
This learning management system
has had its positives and negatives as well
as chilly experiences, this being the first
time Ghana has had to employ
a different strategy in
ensuring that students go
through effective learning
amidst a plague.
In an interview, a lecturer
at the Ghana Institute
of Journalism, Mr
Stephen Tindi, said his experience
with the online
learning had been fun but
challenging, especially
when he had to develop
the platform himself, migrating students
to a blog and creating, as well as sharing
videos. He also said his biggest challenge
was participation as some students didn’t
get to participate and even if they did,
due to the overflow of messages, the
platform got messy. Therefore, he lost
some of the responses.
He also spoke about complaints
from some students about data challenges,
where students could not be
available on time. He, however, suggested
that the online platform should
become a standard feature; the reason
being that nobody knows when this pandemic
would recur. He explained that if
there should be any recurrence, transitioning
would be much easier and without
challenges. He added that digital
literacy should be taken more seriously
to help students find better ways of
learning through the use online platforms,
should there be challenges like
the pandemic or similar situation, so that
the transition to online media would be
smooth.
He advised that it is important for us
to bridge the infrastructure gap in terms
“It has put my life on a standstill. I think
when we get back to school, we will
rush things because time is already
wasted and that is going to put pressure
on us, the students, since my
school is not doing anything online”.
of digital inequality in the country so
that regardless of where students are,
they can participate in digital learning.
He cited an instance where some of his
students had to be excused because of
movement to new locations on the outskirts
of Accra, where they have data
challenges.
Unhappy with the closure of schools,
some students have expressed their displeasure
concerning online studies. A
student of the University of Education,
Winneba, Dennis Koomson, said the effectiveness
of online studies was not as
effective as being in the class itself.
“In the lecture hall, lecturers get time
to explain things vividly unlike on the
online portal where lecturers only put
slides for us to discuss.
“How can one contribute towards
something he or she doesn't understand?
“In fact the environment in the
house is not conducive for learning.”
He added that network providers
should ensure effective internet provision
to enhance online studies. When
asked about how the present situation
was going to affect him, he said, “I think
it’s going to affect my internship
badly in the sense that
since the schools’ calendar is
going to change, I won’t get
enough time to train before
internship. Therefore, I’m not
sure if I’ll be able to get
enough skills as I desire”.
A student of the technical
university of Cape Coast; preferred
to be called Mary, has
expressed her displeasure
about her school not starting
this exercise despite meetings held on it.
However, she thinks the online media
strategy wouldn’t help much due to technical
difficulties like being phoneless and
running out of data, and considering
some courses her school offers, she
deems it impossible for online learning
to be efficient. She also thinks that there
wouldn’t be a deeper understanding of
lecture notes as compared to being in the
lecture hall.
A student of the Ghana Institute of
Journalism; Abdul- Lahie Abdul- Rahim
NaaNinche, voiced his difficulty adjusting
with the situation due to technical issues,
watching videos online and considering
the bad internet connectivity in his
community.
From Pentecost University College,
Linda Yirenkyi says her project work had
been put to halt due to this effect.
“It has put my life on a standstill. I
think when we get back to school, we
will rush things because time is already
wasted and that is going to put pressure
on us, the students, since my school is
not doing anything online”.
With fears of graduation late from
school, a final year student of the Accra
Technical University, Kelvin Abban,
thinks the directive will delay his graduation,
as his project work had been held at
a standstill due to his inability to get
through with practical work.
“I think the school has put measures
in place already but the problem here is
Covid-19 restriction measures are going
to delay me graduating, I learnt a new
curriculum will be posted after the situation
the country is in.”
Like the President of Ghana said,
these are not ordinary times and things
are difficult for us all. Therefore, I wish
to commend all the telecommunication
networks which have helped the situation
by providing access to educationrelated
research, and individuals and
NGOs who have in one way or another
helped by distributing learning materials
or providing other means of helping students
in their studies.
The writer is a Level 300 Journalism
student of the Ghana Institute of
Journalism
Jayana gives Dome market women face
masks on Mother’s Day • To fight Covid-19
AGHANAIAN Gospel
Artiste, Jayana, has donated
a number of locally-manufactured
face masks to women
at Dome market to
combat Covid-19.
The gesture was part of the
artiste’s annual Mothers’ Day project
to honour the contribution of mothers
and acknowledge their efforts.
According to Jayana, mothers are
relentless in their efforts to combine
work with caregiving and ensuring
safety at home in this Covid-19 era.
Sharing the face masks to the market
women, the ‘Victory’ hit maker educated
them to wash their hands often
with soap and under running water.
Jayana also urged them to leave a
distance between themselves and other
people at the market place, wear their
face masks and also observe all other
approved precautionary measures to
protect themselves against the coronavirus
disease (Covid-19).
“As we all know, Mother’s Day is an
occasion celebrated to express respect,
honour, and love towards our dear
mothers. Our mothers at the various
markets go through a lot and as a way
of saying thank you to all mothers for
their care and love, I gave out some
face masks to mothers at the Dome
•Jayana distributing face mask to market women
market to protect them from the coronavirus
pandemic.
“We [Jayana Music team] also educated
them to frequently wash their
hands, keep their homes and environment
clean, wear their
face masks, sanitize
their hands often and
observe social distancing,”
Jayana added.
The donation was
also made possible by
the kind support of Joe
Nick Fashion Design,
located at Dome Pillar 2
in Accra.
Ghana’s Covid-19
case count hits 4,700
with 22 deaths and 378
recoveries.
President Akufo-
Addo on April 19 lifted
restrictions imposed on
the movement of persons
in Greater Accra
and Greater Kumasi
and surrounding towns
as part of efforts to
control the spread of
the coronavirus.
About Jayana
Jayana’s singing is exciting and
breathtaking. She is noted for her mesmerizing
and captivating vocal.
She is a musician who uses the
voice as her instrument, displaying precision
and agility, mixed with heartfelt
emotion.
Born Jemima Annor-Yeboah,
Jayana spent her formative years soaking
up the contemporary gospel, and
praise and worship.
She is the second daughter of the
late Bishop Dr AnnorYeboah, a former
Chairman of the Christ Apostolic
Church (CAC).
She participated in the maiden edition
of the Stars of the Future talent
show, competing with the likes of
Irene Logan, Jean, now Efya, Ramzy,
and Prince Amui.
Jayana announced her comeback
into the music space when she was
signed on by DAVEJOY Music
Records in December 2018 [Record
label owned by Joyce Blessing’s husband]
and released a new song titled
‘Victory’ in 2019, featuring Joyce
Blessing.
The promising gospel minstrel is
currently not signed to any music
record label.