The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) yesterday donated sanitary items to 160 basic schools across the country, to help in the fight against coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The items included 640 hand washing units, popularly known as Veronica buckets, 480 gallons of five litre hand washing liquid soaps and 380 rolls of tissue papers.
The items were received by the Ministry of Education for onward distribution to the beneficiary schools.
Presenting the items, Commissioner General of the GRA, Rev. Amishaddai Owusu-Amoah said the donation forms part of the Authority’s corporate social responsibility and promote hygiene in the schools.
In the wake of the pandemic, he said, the items would help reduce the number of COVID-19 cases in public schools and support efforts to reduce infection rate in the country.
‘With this new delta variant, it is important to protect ourselves and others. As a revenue mobilisation authority we want to protect citizens and we are doing so by supporting schools,” he stated.
The Authority, the Commissioner-General noted, was currently working with the Ministry of Education to provide potable water to schools, and was also partnering with other organisations to provide boreholes in communities with water challenges.
He appealed to teachers and students to use the items to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Deputy Minister of Education, Reverend John Ntim-Fordjour, commended the GRA for joining in the fight against the disease which had so far impacted negatively on social and economic life.
Already, the government, he said, had provided logistics to educational institutions nationwide to protect both teachers and students against the virus.
As part of the fight, Mr Ntim-Fordjour noted that the ministry, in collaboration with its counterpart in charge of health, would roll out a COVID-19 tracker project that would be deployed in schools, to monitor and curb the spread of the virus.
He called on other corporate organisations to support the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service in the provision of the much-needed sanitary and hygiene items to schools.
RKO ADABY CLAUDE NYAMS
