States were on Sunday divided over the Federal Government’s directive that the Senior Secondary School 3 pupils should resume on Tuesday in preparation for the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations starting on August 17.
PUNCH report that SSS3 pupils in Lagos, Benue, Kwara and Ogun states are preparing for resumption on Tuesday, while WASSCE candidates would resume in Cross River State on Monday (today).
Enugu, Gombe and Rivers states have yet to announce the resumption dates for their pupils, unlike Ekiti State, where pupils will resume on August 10.
The PUNCH’s investigations, however, showed that many state governments had yet to provide running water, hand-washing points and other non-pharmaceutical materials stipulated in the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 guidelines for resumption of schools.
Recall that the Federal Government had on Monday said SSS3 pupils would resume on Tuesday. The Minister of State (Education), Emeka Nwajiuba, however, explained that only COVID-19 protocol compliant schools would resume.
According to him, schools must provide running water and hand-washing points sanitisers.
On Sunday, our correspondents observed that many state governments had not met all the PTF guidelines.
In Benue State, the state government has not put in place necessary measures that could prevent the spread of COVID-19 among pupils and teachers on their resumption.
The state government, through the Commissioner for Education, Professor Dennis Ityavyar, had last week announced Tuesday as the date for reopening of Primary 6, JSS 3 and SSS 3 classes.
But one of our correspondents, who went to some schools in Makurdi, the state capital, on Sunday, reported that there were no signs indicating the preparedness of the state government to reopen schools in line with the Federal Government’s protocols.
It was gathered that government had yet to fumigate any school in the state neither was there anything to suggest that pupils would be resuming on Tuesday.
-Punch
