Reactions have continued to trail the pronouncement of the Federal Government of Nigerian. Recall that on Monday the government through the office of the Ministry of Education disclosed that exit classes should reopen August 4th, 2020.
In a statement signed by the Director of Press and Public Relations of the Ministry, Ben Bem Goong stated that the decision was unanimously reached at a virtual consultative meeting with other relevant stakeholders.
Lauding the effort of government on its resolve to reopen school for exit classes, the former Vice President, Alh. Atiku Abubakar said the announcement for the resumption of school for exit classes in August is commendable.
Atiku who strongly supported the re-opening of school for students who are preparing to write the West African Examination Council (WAEC), said: “I do hope, however, that the students writing the exams are well prepared through home study during the lockdown.
“I commend the Federal Ministry of Education for acceding to the patriotic counsel that myself and other well-meaning Nigerians and organizations gave with regards to not cancelling the WASSCE exams.”
Also, the Vice-Chancellor, Trinity University, Lagos, Prof. Charles Ayo, has commended the Federal Government for reopening schools for students in exit classes to take public examinations.
In an interview with newsmen on Tuesday in Ota, Ogun, Ayo, a former Vice-Chancellor of Covenant University, said that the government’s decision was a welcome development as many parents had been agitated over the issue.
“The action of the Federal Government is good decision in the right direction, but all precautionary measures must be taken to avoid a spike of the pandemic,’’ he said.
The vice-chancellor stressed the need for collective efforts in fighting the scourge so as to further reduce the pandemic in the country.
“The government, parents, proprietors, staff and students have a role to play and must tread the path of caution,’’ Ayo said.
Though, in a contrary view, the medical doctors under the auspices of Pediatrics Association of Nigeria (PAN) have earlier warned the federal government against reopening of schools, following the increasing cases of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
In the doctors’ view, the capacity of the health system to attend to further increase of the virus amongst student if schools return is not encouraging.
PAN said: “Figures from Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), show exponential rise in Covid-19 incidence and deaths. It would appear that Nigeria has, at this time, not reached its peak incidence of the pandemic.
“Obviously, Nigerian health care system is grossly ill-equipped to absorb sudden surges in cases of Covid-19 in our schools. We are still learning about the effect of Covid-19 in the human body including the long-term effect of the virus in various organs, even in asymptomatic carriers including children.
“Ghana which reopened its schools three week ago has reported 55 new Covid-19 cases in students of Accra Girls Senior High School alone within two weeks of reopening”.
The association advised the minimum condition to consider before reopening of schools should be steady and consistent decline in the spread of COVID-19 in most parts of the country.
PAN observed that public health physicians, infectious disease experts and other child and adolescent healthcare specialists were not consulted in arriving at the decision to possibly reopen schools in September, 2020.
The association said: “PAN supports the continued closure of Nigerian schools and urges the schools should remain closed until conditions are safe.
“The minimum criterion for considering the reopening of schools in Nigeria should be a steady and consistent decline in the spread of Covid-19 in most parts of the country.
“It is then and only then, we believe, that the other criteria as laid down by the Guidelines for Schools and Learning Facilities reopening after Covid-19 Pandemic Closures can now be considered.
“Many parents now have to undertake the extra duty of controlling, protecting and in some cases supervising the academic work of the children, duties which have traditionally been shared with teachers and school administrators.
“PAN encourages these and would want our parents to regard their sacrifices, not just as a duty to their families but as a national duty at this time of war with coronavirus”.
