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Head of Psychology at the University of Ghana, Prof. Joseph Osafo has called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to adopt strategies to help the final year students integrate well into society after they are done with their final examinations.

According to him, the students should not just return home without the education authorities developing ways to ensure they are not stigmatized.

This is because, he said, there have been cases where COVID-19 patients and recovered persons have had to face the complication of stigma.

Prof. Joseph Osafo, speaking to sit-in host Nana Yaw Kesseh on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo', stated that the stigma attached to the disease needs to be dealt with stressing it's a canker to the growth of the nation and the fight against the virus.

To him, because some schools were affected by the pandemic disease, it is prudent for the GES to protect the students against any incident of stigmatization, therefore asserting that the Ministry of Education and the GES must make a public declaration to allay fears of parents and the society as well as kill any possible stigma that the students may face upon their return back home.

''We just want to hear a message that the children are not going to be left to return home just like that. We have been in Ghana and researching for awhile. And we know the mental health terrain and certain socio-cultural factors that fight against people who have been infected by this disease and reintegrated into their communities without anybody not rising or talking against them...There should be a public statement from the GES or Minister of Education to warn people against that (stigmatization),'' Prof Osafo added.