SCHOOL REOPENING POST COVID

The federal government has warned state governors ahead of the full reopening of schools. This is coming as a result of Some state governors directives for schools to resume Monday, September 21, as the resumption date for academic activities – Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, the minister of state for education, made this known on Monday, September 14, in Abuja during the PTF on COVID-19 briefing ahead of the preparations for the resumption of primary and secondary schools across the country.

The federal government sent a fresh and stern warning to the state governments and the proprietors of private schools.

The federal government advised state governments to ensure that adequate measures are put in place to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic before the full resumption of schools.

It was also reported that the FG said it would not hesitate to close any school reopened without adherence to guidelines and protocols provided by the national response.

The minister of state for education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, during the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 said that the state governments making move to reopen schools were in tune with the directive by the PTF that states and other stakeholders should prepare for the full resumption of schools.

The minister, however, said the universities need to get clearance from the National Universities Commission (NUC) before reopening.

The minister, who was reacting to a question about some state governments that have already announced the full reopening of primary and secondary schools effective from September 21, did not give a specific date for full nationwide resumption.

He noted that primary and secondary education was within the purview of the state governments and that the right thing must be done to safeguard the lives of the school children before reopening.

He said: “All primary schools up to post-primary schools have the participation of sub-national and at that level, they need to check and meet all the requirements before they open. “But at the tertiary level, that guidance will also be done in collaboration with the National Universities Commission so that it will give clearance that we are satisfied with your performance with regard to the guideline.

“What we are doing is that we are reducing this whole gamut of the document into some measurable steps towards reopening. What that means is that the governing council of each institution will then review the guideline and benchmark it.

“You may have heard several states taking steps around reopening, they are all in order. This is what is expected from what the PTF said last week and following the guideline, everybody will now begin the processes of reopening.

“However, they must be guided because in every state we have quality assurance officers that are reporting to the federal ministry of education and we will not hesitate to shut down any place that is not in compliance with guidelines.”

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LATEST UPDATE: (11th September, 2020): Federal Government (FG) is Yet to Announce an Official Resumption Date of Schools Nationwide, Says its Still Evaluating and a Work in Progress.

The Federal Government says it has not come to a point where it is convinced that schools should be re-opened for academic exercise after their closure due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at a meeting of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 with the Northern Traditional Leaders Committee (NTLC) on National Primary Health.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting was presided over by the Minister of Information and Culture on behalf of the Chairman of PTF and Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha.

The meeting was to seek the support of the traditional rulers towards preventing community spread of COVID-19. Responding to a question from Sultan of Sokoto, His Eminence Sa’ad Abubakar, on school reopening. Nwajiuba said the federal government is still evaluating the situation.

“At the moment, we have not come to the point where we can say we are convinced that schools can manage themselves and reopen comfortably.

“Our teams have gone out and we will use the whole of this week and next week to do a proper evaluation.

“We are going round to see the level of compliance but most importantly we are waiting to get an update on all the facilities in every part of Nigeria:

“So, it is a work in progress,” he said. The minister said the government strongly believed in the opinions of experts that 15 per cent of transmission of the pandemic is from school environment and that was why they proposed remodeling of classes.

“We believe the experts that the school system is a suspect place for transmission and that is why we are working with them, particularly on guidelines.

“We are suggesting that classes be remodeled if there are no enough classrooms for social distancing, “We can do tier system, some can come in the morning, may be the junior classes and the senior classes can come in the afternoon.

“We are also working out guidelines such as washing of hands because school must go on at one point,” he said.

The minister said they experimented the system in the past weeks during the West African School Certificate Examinations and the Joint Admission Matriculation Examination.

“We are lucky thus far because we only recorded an incident in Gombe where a child contacted COVID-19.

“We quickly isolated him and he recovered in time to join the class back. “But that showed that these places are sources of spread,” he said.

Nwajuba underscored the need to collaborate with the states for a seamless and safe reopening of schools, particularly at the primary level.

He said the states were trying to look at their peculiar situation using the national guidelines. The minister stressed the need for the collaboration of the monarchs to prevent community spread of the pandemic.

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LATEST UPDATE: (7th September, 2020): Ogun State Announces 21st September, 2020 Resumption Date for Both Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Instituions, Grants Automatic Promotion for Students in Final Year. 

All students except those in tertiary institutions have been given an automatic promotion to the next class by the Ogun State Government which announced September 21 for the reopening of schools in the state for the first term of 2020/2021 session.

The Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Kunle Somorin, made the announcement in a statement on Monday.

This is in addition to the earlier resumption of students in exit classes.

According to Mr Somorin, the State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, approved the reopening of schools for all classes in primary and secondary schools, Technical and Vocational Colleges, and Tertiary Institutions.

He noted that a resumption schedule for public schools has been developed as part of efforts to meet the COVID-19 guidelines.

Students in primary one to three will attend classes from 8.00 am to 11.00 am, while pupils in primary four to six will learn from 12 noon to 3:00 pm.

In secondary schools, students in JSS 1 to JSS 3 are to attend classes from 8.00 am to 11.00 am and students in senior classes will be in school from mid-day through to 3:00 pm.

However, the CPS noted that technical and vocational colleges will operate their normal school hours of 8.00 am to 2.00 pm, while tertiary institutions are “allowed to commence reopening from 21 September 2020 as may be determined by their respective management.”

The Governor’s spokesman added that private schools are expected to take necessary measures to meet the COVID-19 protocols for physical distancing, among other requirements.

He stated that students between the ages of 3 to 5 will not be resuming in public schools until the next phase of schools’ reopening.

“It should be noted that the government had earlier announced that all students had been given an automatic promotion to the next class, including automatic placement for primary 6 students in public primary schools into JSS1 of public secondary schools.

“However, primary 6 students desirous of placement into the State-owned Boarding Schools will sit for the Common Entrance Examination on Saturday, 12 September 2020,” the statement read in part.

“The hitherto JSS3 students who have now been promoted to SS1 will write their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in October 2020.”

Mr Somorin noted that part of the COVID-19 guidelines issued for reopening of schools is still in effect because the management of the virus has been deliberate in ensuring safety for children while minimising the disruption in the school learning calendar.