The Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, says the government is ready to open the country’s borders for final year foreign students to enable them to return to Ghana following the partial reopening of schools.
He noted that “arrangements are being done with the Ministry of Education” in this regard.
“You know schools are closed except for final year students. So for final year foreign or international students, my understanding is that the Education Ministry has said that they can engage with the various school authorities and some arrangements can be made for them.”
“So for final year international students, that arrangement can be made through the specific institutions in collaboration with the ministry in charge of education,” Mr. Oppong Nkrumah said on GTV’s #AskTheInfoMinistry programme on Tuesday.
Eased restrictions
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in his 10th televised address to the state announced the easing of some of the restrictions imposed on the country including the reopening of schools solely for final year students.
However, there have been concerns about the fate of final year foreign students who left the country before the closure of the borders in Mach 2020.
The country’s borders were shut as part of measures put in place to check the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in Ghana.
President Akufo-Addo said the country’s borders were to remain shut even though measures have been put in place to bring Ghanaians stranded abroad back into the country.
According to the Minister of Information, the government has taken into consideration the concerns of foreign final year students who left the country and would need to return to complete their studies.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah, however, indicated that such students will have to engage with their schools for the necessary arrangements to be made to enable them to gain access into the country.
Meanwhile, some 41 Ghanaians who were in Washington DC, USA, have been evacuated into the country. Most of them were students who went on an exchange program sponsored by the State Department of the United States of America.
They arrived aboard a South African Airways flight at 9.20 am on Saturday, June 6, at the Kotoko International Airport.
The evacuees are lodging at a hotel in Accra and they are to observe the two-weeks mandatory quarantine period.