Consider using double track if schools are to reopen – Africa Education Watch to government

An Education think tank, the Africa Education Watch has asked the government to consider the track system if it plans to reopen schools.

Ghana on Monday, March 16, 2020, closed all schools, universities, and suspended public events to stop the spread of coronavirus in the country.

President Nana Akufo-Addo announced in an address to the nation that the authorities were shutting schools and universities “until further notice”

According to the think tank, its proposal will reduce the number of students in schools at a particular time and also deal largely with a potential spread of COVID-19 if schools are reopened.

The Executive Secretary of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare in a Citi News interview said three different batches can be adopted depending on the size of a school.

“It may depend on the class size in a particular locality –that’s the average class size –because some have larger class sizes.”

“In countries like, Switzerland and Netherlands they have about three batches going to school so batch 1 goes to school for two days, batch 2 does and batch 3 goes to school on Friday but they will not do 4 hours a day but instead 8 hours. So depending on the municipality’s standard class sizes we may have to do batch not only morning and afternoon but also one could go on an odd day so that we can reasonably distance the students in line with the WHO and the UNESCO protocols,” he said.

The Ghana Education Service recently wrote to the stakeholders in the education sector to make an input into the reopening of the schools in country since the President Nana Akufo-Addo ordered the closure of same.

Annul current academic year, start afresh in September – Neogenics Education Group

Neogenics Education Group, an educational consultancy, had earlier urged the government to nullify the current academic year and start afresh in September following the Coronavirus outbreak in the country.

According to the group, students should be made to repeat their current year or classes.

In a press release signed by Grant Bulmuo, Lead Consultant of the group, their call is backed by research that “a child’s absence from school experience has a significant impact on their future successes and life chances.”

“Research shows that 8 days of absence from school reduces a child’s best chance of success by 4%, 19 days by 10%, 29 days by 15%, 38 days by 20%, and 48 days by 25%. Children in Ghana by the end of May 2020 would have been absent from active learning for almost 50 school days. Your judgement is a good as ours! The majority of our children may hardly remember any of the learning they experienced in school from September 2019.”

To reopen schools or not to

The Ghana National Council of Private Schools GNACOPS says the schools should be opened if government believes it’s safe regardless of the rise in COVID-19 cases in the country.

The position of private schools has been challenged by four teacher unions who are kicking against plans to reopen schools any time soon.

The four are the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Tertiary Education Workers Union (TEWU), and Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT).

In a joint statement, they indicated that items for the observation of the prescribed protocols which includes face masks and alcohol-based sanitizers are not available in the various schools hence their apprehension.

According to the Teacher Unions, the Ghana Education Service in a circular dated 13th May 2020 had requested for “proposals for the reopening of schools” hence their statement urging government not to consider such decision now.

Source: citinewsroom.com

COVID-19: Students in Ivory Coast return to school after easing of restrictions

With a total of 2,376 cases and dozens of new infections each day, Ivory Coast has yet to contain the virus.

But authorities are confident pupils can study together in safety after the introduction of extra hygiene measures.

In Abidjan’s Adjame neighborhood, children in backpacks queued to wash their hands under a teacher’s watchful eye before entering their school, where they sat just one to a desk with bottles of sanitising gel within reach.

“At first we were a little scared. When we saw that the protective measures were being respected, the fear went away,” said 14-year-old Samira Cisse.

Nearby countries are likely to follow closely whether the Ivory Coast’s decision to reopen schools causes a spike in infection. With millions of children still at home, aid agency Save the Children says many could face serious setbacks due to limited options for distance learning in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The Ivorian education ministry told Reuters it appreciated the seriousness of its decision.

“We also have an imperative duty to ensure that the children entrusted to us can complete their education,” said ministry official Assoumou Kabran.

Reopening classrooms also means thousands of pupils and their teachers must be ferried back to boarding schools outside Abidjan, epicentre of the epidemic.

French teacher Patrick Yobouet, 38, waited with hundreds of others in a sun-baked stadium to board buses out of the city.

“We’re a bit worried as we leave because we don’t know if we have the coronavirus or not or if the children are contaminated or not,” he said.

Source: af.reuters.com

Information Security Risk Assessments of Suppliers

Suppliers are entities (persons, organizations or countries) that provide products and or services to other entities. Suppliers are also referred to as vendors or service providers. Suppliers, in the context of this article refers to vendors, service providers, contractors and subcontractors.

Supply chains have become integral part of modern business operations. Engagements within supply chains require sharing of sensitive information and provision of access to information systems of organizations. This gives rise to information security (InfoSec) risks and can be very disruptive to businesses. It is therefore incumbent on organisations to work closely with suppliers throughout the procurement process (from onboarding to contract termination) to manage InfoSec risks. This needs to be embedded in the procurement / vendor management processes.

InfoSec Professionals need to be involved in the procurement process, with focus on high risk contracts to ensure appropriate controls are put in place to circumvent unforeseen circumstances.

Recent surveys have shown that, most data breaches are caused by third parties. Deloitte has reported that, between 2013 and 2016, 87% of businesses experienced disruptive incidents with third parties. According to Symantec’s 2019 internet security threat report, supply chain attacks increased by 78% in 2018. Third party vendor involvement was one of the major contributing factors to data breaches. Data breaches caused by third parties increased the cost of data breach by over US $370,000 (Ponemon Institute, 2019).

Recent breaches due to suppliers

Hundreds of data and InfoSec breaches have occurred globally through suppliers. The following are some of the major breaches in 2019 and 2020.

In 2019, personally identifiable information (PIIs) of about 12 million patients of Quest Diagnostics were exposed via its vendor named American Medical Collection Agency. 3 terabytes of confidential information of FBI were exposed to the public via Oklahoma Department of Securities. Cultura Colectiva exposed over 540 million records of Facebook users’ credentials and comments. Plaintext passwords and email addresses of over 20,000 Facebook users were exposed via a supplier by name At the Pool. Payment card details of several customers of Focus Brands Inc. were exposed via its point of sale (POS) device vendor.

In early 2020, thousands of Instagram credentials were exposed through its supplier: Social Captain. 1.7 million PIIs of Nedbank customers were exposed through its supplier: Computer Facilities (Pty) Ltd. Also, PIIs of General Electric employees were exposed through its supplier: Canon Business Services.

Standards, frameworks and regulations

The need to conduct InfoSec risk assessment of suppliers is an international best practise, adopted by several standards, frameworks and regulations.

The 2011 Information Security Forum (ISF) Standard of Good Practice for Information Security (CF16.1.7) states, “The information security status of each external supplier should be assessed / validated on a regular basis, using a consistent and approved methodology (e.g. based on an industry standard).”

The ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard (A.15.2.1) states, “Organizations shall regularly monitor, review and audit supplier service delivery”, of which information security forms part.

The 2018 Bank of Ghana Cyber & Information Security Directive (Section 88 (1c)) states, “An institution shall conduct a risk survey of a service provider and/or business partner at least annually.”

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cyber security framework version 1.1 (ID.SC-4) states, “Suppliers and third-party partners are routinely assessed using audits, test results, or other forms of evaluations to confirm they are meeting their contractual obligations”

COBIT 2019 framework (APO10.05) states, "Periodically review overall vendor performance, compliance to contract requirements and value for money."

t must be noted that, contractual requirements or obligations of suppliers also include information security obligations, stipulated in contracts.

Procedure for conducting supplier InfoSec risk assessment

Figure 1 shows the general procedure for conducting InfoSec risk assessment of suppliers.

Figure 1: Procedure for conducting supplier risk assessment

Such assessments can be done remotely (through questionnaires) and or on the premises of suppliers. However, conducting the assessment via questionnaires only, may not be very effective, although it is a good starting point.

There are also third-party cyber risk assessment tools, which can be utilized to complement this process. These tools automatically collate and analyze third party cyber risk through passive scanning to provide a risk rating.

Importance of conducting supplier InfoSec risk assessment

The importance of conducting supplier InfoSec risk assessment cannot be overemphasized. The following are some of the importance of undertaking the assessment:

• It enhances the ability to maintain confidentiality, integrity and availability of organization’s information.
•  It increases the reliance and confidence in dealing with suppliers.
• It significantly reduces the exposure of information security risks to organizations, their customers, and suppliers.
• It provides organizations with competitive advantage.
• It ensures compliance to standards, regulatory and contractual requirements.
• It significantly reduces financial, reputational and operational risks to organizations.

Conclusion

Research has shown that, lots of InfoSec breaches occur through suppliers. Despite the huge security investments and controls implemented by organizations to safeguard themselves, they can easily be compromised through their suppliers. It is in the utmost interest of organizations and their stakeholders to ensure that, their suppliers are as secure as themselves.

Suppliers need to ensure that, InfoSec clauses/requirements contained in contracts with their customers are strictly adhered to. They need to provide full cooperation to their customers when it comes to such assessments because, it is also in their interest to be secured.

Author:

Sherrif Issah – (IT GRC Consultant @ Digital Jewels Ltd., and Editorial Board Member of IIPGH)

For comments, contact author mysherrif@gmail.com | Mobile: +233243835912

CHASS calls for mass testing of students, staff before reopening of SHSs

The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS) is proposing mass COVID-19 testing of students, teaching and non-teaching staff of Senior High Schools (SHSs) before they are reopened.

The Conference says with such an exercise, students with the virus can easily be identified and isolated to prevent them from spreading it to other students.

It added that given that most SHSs are confronted with challenges of crowding, innovative options can be explored to maintain the safety of schools.

The group is thus requesting that plans to reopen schools be done in stages beginning with final year students to ensure that SHSs do not become risk areas for contracting COVID-19.

The National President of CHASS, Alhaji Yacoub Abubakari in a Citi News interview suggested that, when the schools are reopened “the students and teachers who are supposed to come to the schools should first be screened and their status known.”

“Those who are negative, they are welcome to come to school and those who are seen to be positive, immediately the necessary measures are taken to treat them. While the students are in school, we have also requested that certain things should be put in place to ensure the safety of the students. Schools, in general, have crowded situations so we have suggested that given the current situation that we are in with COVID-19 we should first of all start by allowing the final year students to come.”

Should schools reopen?

There is a major discussion on whether or not schools should reopen in the country amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

The schools have remained closed since March 15, 2020 as part of the government’s announced measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19.

However, in the past week following the easing of other restrictions in the country, there are calls for schools to reopen.

Four Teacher unions; Ghana National Association of Teachers, National Association of Graduate Teachers, Tertiary Education Workers’ Union and Coalition of Concerned Teachers in a joint statement have registered their opposition to reopening soon but the Council for private schools are pushing for the schools to be opened.

Among their reasons for the reopening of schools, is the financial challenges they are facing including having to lay-off over tens of thousands of teachers due to the challenges.

Source: citinewsroom.com

KWAMI ALORVI ASKS: REOPENING OF SCHOOLS, HOW REALLY PREPARED IS GES?

A letter from the the office of the Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Prof. Kwasi Opoku Amankwa, dated Wednesday 13th May 2020 was circulated  on Social media over the weekend. The letter (Ref. GES/DG/245/20/194) seeks to solicit from the teacher unions their inputs on "strategies to adopt to ensure that we can smoothly reopen schools while ensuring the maximum security and safety of all." A deadline of Tuesday 19th May, 2020 was given to the unions to submit their inputs to the GES.

Listening to the General Secretary of GNAT Mr. Thomas Musah on JOY NEWS (TV) on Monday 18th May 2020, I gathered that the GES letter was delivered to the unions either on Thursday 14th May or Friday 15th May 2020. Considering the fact that 16th and 17th May 2020 fell on Saturday and Sunday respectively, the unions have only today Monday 18th May 2020 to think through their "strategies" and submit their proposals.

I wish the unions were given adequate time to enable them consult more broadly with their members and to also have sufficient time to think through their strategies.

Additionally I wish the engagements were broader to include other key stakeholders such as the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), the student’s leadership at all levels, Parents, the Traditional Authorities and Communities in whose areas these schools are located. But it appears GES is in its usual hurry.

From my point of view as a concerned parent with wards in school, I'm concerned about the continued stay at home of our wards. But as a teacher by profession, and knowing the conditions under which our schools operate, I am equally scared about any dream of reopening schools at this point in time when the Ghana Health Service told us it is still studying the dynamics of this Coronavirus. We are told the virus has now entered the community spread stage in our country. For me, and I believe for many parents and teachers too, the idea to even contemplate reopening schools at this community spread stage is premature. France reopened some of its schools in May and within one week, seventy students contracted the virus. The Spanish flu of 1918 was also said to have claimed 50 million lives when a lock-down was lifted without careful consideration.

So far nobody can explain why some people have severe life threatening infections while others have mild or no symptoms at all.

As a country, we have also not yet attained a quick testing regime where we can deliver quick results across the country within 24 hours when there is a suspected case and sample taken. Additionally, the temperature guns, we have learnt, have not been too helpful since many of those who have contracted the virus and spread it show no symptoms; no fever. So the temperature guns have not been able to detect the virus in those infected people. We may have many of such asymptomatic persons among students and teachers. Congregating them in schools might thus prove disastrous. Even those who get fever can bring the temperature down with paracetamol.

Thus GES may be bold, reopen our schools and be lucky to have no problems because we believe God is always a Ghanaian. However, God's favour may temporarily depart from Ghana and we could have big regrets when we reopen schools.

My candid position on possible reopening of schools therefore, is NOT NOW. Let's tread cautiously for if we rush we may crash and be crushed.

GES must be conscious of the potential danger ahead and convince students, teachers and the general public that verifiable adequate measures are put in place before contemplating reopening of schools.

From my experience in the GES, it has always been that we take major policy decisions before attempting to put in place compliance measures after public outcry. COVID-19 will not allow us the luxury to tread that path. GES must thus fulfill some stringent conditions precedent that will minimize the spread of COVID-19 among students and teachers before taking a decision to reopen schools.

The following measures are worth consideration:

A. BEEFING UP INFRASTRUCTURE

• How prepared is the GES with resources to construct more classrooms in all public schools to decongest the large class sizes? Do private school operators also have the means to expand their classroom infrastructure? Class sizes need to be reduced to a maximum of 20 to 25 if we are to reopen schools. This will ensure the appropriate social distancing protocol.
• Can GES/MoE in the shortest time possible, build more dormitories in boarding schools to decongest the sleeping rooms of the students to conform to social distancing protocols even as they go to bed?
• How prepared is the MoE/GES to provide more dining spaces to ensure social distancing as students take their meals? How early can this be done? When students are divided into more smaller groups as exists now for dining purposes, it might eat into teaching and learning periods. 
  In effect, in the SHS where overcrowding has led to a double track system, how many tracks does the Ministry envisage for schools to promote social distancing in the classrooms and dormitories? Can the, GES propose a time table for the tracks it intends to bring to the schools for public scrutiny? How can the GES enforce the ban on large gatherings such as school worships, assemblies and entertainment in the schools apart from gathering in the dining halls?
• Are resources available for extension of pipe borne water to all schools which don't have it to promote frequent hand washing?
• Furniture: For social distancing, mono desks or chairs have become imperative. How ready is MoE/GES to replace dual desks in schools that use them? Or if the dual desks must continue to be in use, how is the GES going to ensure that they are occupied by only one pupil/student to ensure the observance of social distancing protocol? How early can the GES augment the furniture status in the schools?

B. TESTING BEFORE REOPENING

• After GES has shown evidence to the teacher unions, CHASS, COHBS, CODE and Parents of providing the above infrastructure, the next stage is testing. How ready is government to let all students, teachers, and non-teaching staff of both public and private schools  undergo compulsory testing before schools are allowed to reopen? Can testing centres complete testing and release results before reopening of the schools? This will help discover any infected persons, isolate and treat them so they don't infect others.
• Retesting: All students and staff need to be retested every two weeks when schools are in session so that those who might be infected after previous tests, or who might be carrying the virus but tested negative in the first instance can be fished out, isolated and treated. Is the MoE/GES and GHS ready for this? How can students and teachers easily access the testing centers?

C. PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT, (PPE)

• Disposable face masks in the required quantities are required by each student, teacher and non-teaching staff to wear while in school. Reusable face masks must not be allowed since we cannot guarantee pupils/students can handle them hygienically to avoid infection and spread of the virus. These disposable face masks have to be collected and properly disposed of at the end of each day so that nobody attempts to reuse them.
  Government must supply these PPEs to the management of our schools- Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Conference of Heads of Basic Schools (COHBS) and Conference of Directors of Education (CODE), before contemplating the reopening of schools. Is it medically safe for students and teachers to be in face mask throughout the whole day anyway? We need medical opinion on that.
• Is Government ready to supply Veronica buckets with liquid soap (with resources made available to school heads to replace or, and replenish them) to schools to be mounted at vantage points in the schools for proper hand washing?
• Hand sanitizers must be supplied to each student and each staff. These must be available to each student for exclusive use and not to be shared with any other person. Can these be supplied to schools before we think about reopening?
• Classrooms, offices, dormitories, door handles, chairs, tables, beds, mattresses, office equipment and student school bags need to be disinfected regularly, preferably every week to ensure safety. How adequately prepared are the GES and the Ghana Health Service for this?

 D. TRANSPORT

• To minimize possible transmission of the virus, special dedicated buses need to be assigned by Government to convey only students, teachers and non-teaching staff to and from school each day. No other category of persons must be allowed to mingle with the students and teachers on these buses. Government should tell Ghanaians the arrangement put in place for transporting students and staff before we think about reopening.

E. MORE STAFF RECRUITMENT

• More qualified teachers (not NABCO recruits) must be recruited to augment existing staff strength and ensure the decongestion of the classrooms and maintain a class size of 20 to 25 maximum. How early can the Ministry secure clearance from the Ministry of Finance, advertise for recruitment, recruit and deploy teachers and other staff?

Until this is done, we shouldn't think of reopening.

After ALL the above measures have been guaranteed, GES needs to tell School Managers how schools that have no fence walls (and most schools don't have) are to be protected from the public who might enter the school premises.

These measures, one may argue, appear stringent. Yes they are, but I believe they are the surest way to minimize the spread of the virus among students and teachers. Dangerous events call for stringent measures. We either take our time, get it right and do it well or regret it. As the President said, we know how to fix our economy, and by extension, our education after COVID-19. What we do not know is how to bring back to life our precious students, teachers, supporting staff and their families who might fall victim to our haphazardly  planned and ill managed reopening of schools.

May I conclude by saying that this is not the time for the Education Sector Associations to work in isolation. CHASS, CODE and COHBS must work hand in hand with the Education sector unions - GNAT,  NAGRAT, CCT - to verify the putting in place of the above stringent measures before they sit down with the GES to discuss reopening of our schools. The usual cajoling, or even bullying heads of school to reopen school with the promise of sending resources later by the GES, which promises are partially fulfilled, or never at all, must give way to collaborative engagement. Together, we can find solution to this problem and allow our schools to reopen in safety.

Let's be Citizens, Not Spectators

GES doing everything possible to pay legacy arrears – Adutwum

 The government has said it is in the process of paying legacy arrears owed various teacher unions across the country.

The arrears which include over two years salary and promotion arrears as well allowances of some public school teachers have sparked a series of demonstrations in the education sector.

A Deputy Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, said the government is currently engaging the teachers to come up with workable modalities in paying the debt.

“The GES is doing everything possible to clear the legacy arrears,” the Deputy Minister said.

The President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu, also indicated that a meeting with regards to the payment of legacy arrears will be held Thursday.

“Today, the Ghana Education Service has invited the representatives of the various unions to discuss the Legacy Arrears issue,” Mr. Carbournu said.

Teacher unions in the country — the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT) — have all on several occasions threatened to lay down their tools from over the failure of the government to pay the legacy arrears.

In 2019, President of GNAT, Ms Philippa Larsen, said the payment of the Legacy Debt had delayed due to some discrepancies detected by the GES.

“The subject for discussion was the legacy arrears which spanned the period 2012-2016. Primarily, we the unions were concerned with the payment of the said arrears because our checks had revealed that the arrears had been verified and approved for payment by the Controller and Accountant-General’s Internal Audit Unit about three weeks earlier.

“However, we were informed that when the verified data were handed over to the GES for review and action, the GES would not budge, because it claimed some discrepancies had been detected.”

Source: citinewsroom.com