19th September, 2014
The Federal Government, which directed public and private primary and secondary schools in the country to resume for the next academic session on 13 October, had reviewed it to 22 September.
The government action followed the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Lagos, which prompted an extension of the resumption date to 13 October but was later reviewed it to 22 September when it saw the possibility of reopening the schools.
The Federal Government said it had made tremendous progress toward tackling the EVD within the shortest possible time, as all those who had contact with the index patient, the Liberian Patrick Sawyer, who came into the country with the disease had successfully been treated and certified free of it.
However, some of them had died.
The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, said “schools can now open on Sept. 22”.
Consequently, state governments, private schools and unions were left with the decision of when to reopen schools, as parents expressed different views on when they could send their children and wards to school.
The September 22 resumption date did not go down well with the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), as they both opposed it.
The NUT and NMA said the Federal Government had not taken adequate precaution to ensure that school children did not contract the disease.
Following the development, the NUT directed its members nationwide not to resume on the said date.
However, the Yobe government said schools in the state would resume on Monday, Sept. 22, as directed by the Federal Government.
The Yobe Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Mohammad Lamin, told NAN in Damaturu that schools would resume on that date, while teachers received training on preventive measures on the virus.
Lamin urged teachers and students to resume as directed by the Federal Government, and warned that government would not tolerate late resumption.
“We have a lot to cover for us to move forward educationally,” he said.
The Chairman of NUT in Yobe, Malam Lawan Ibrahim, also said that schools in the state would resume on Sept. 22, but on the condition that teachers must be trained on preventive measures by the state government before resumption.
“Teachers will only resume on the condition that they are trained on preventive measures against Ebola virus by the government before the resumption date.
“With less than a week to the scheduled resumption date, government has yet to train our teachers, so I want to make it categorically clear that until our members are trained, we may not resume on Sept. 22,” Lawan said.
Meanwhile, some parents who spoke to NAN urged government and the union to ensure adequate measures were taken to safeguard the health of both teachers and students.
Ali Nasiru, a parent, said “we must collectively work toward ensuring that the schools are safe even if it means shifting the resumption date because the transmission of Ebola virus will be difficult to control in crowded environments like schools.”
In Kano State, the Chairman of Parent-Teachers Association (PTA), Retired Col. Isa Kachako, said schools would reopen for academic activities as directed by the Federal Government.
Kachako said parents in the state were fully prepared to take their children to school. “We are ready to take our children back to school because the long holiday has negatively affected their studies.”
However in Dutse, the Jigawa government said schools in the state would resume on Oct. 13, after the forthcoming eid el-kabir.
The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Haruna Wakili, said the Oct. 13 resumption date in the state was not due to EVD threat but because of the Sallah festival.
He said that the state was represented in a meeting with the Federal Government that agreed on Sept. 22 resumption date “but we decided to review it because of the Sallah celebration.”
The commissioner said that 5,000 teachers across the state had been trained on measures to prevent EVD and that the state government had released N14 million for the training of both private and public school teachers.
According to him, the Ministry of Education has scheduled a meeting with all school principals to ensure adequate measures are put in place to prevent school children from contracting the virus.
Elsewhere in Adamawa, the state government said public schools in the state would resume on Oct. 13 as earlier directed by the Federal Government.
Alhaji Saidu Komsiri, the Director, Quality Assurance, Adamawa State Universal Basic Education Board (ADSUBEB) said this in Yola. “For now, the board is still working with the initial directive that said schools will resume on Oct. 13, as we have not yet been officially communicated of the Sept. 22 resumption date.”
Komsiri said that though training of teachers on preventive measures on Ebola had already commenced, it was yet to be concluded.
He, however, said that he was not in a position to speak for private schools, adding that many of them had insisted on resuming on Sept. 22.
A proprietor of one of the private schools in Yola, who simply identified himself as Mr Livinus, said many of them were ready to resume on Sept. 22. “We are set to resume on Sept. 22. We are going to ensure good hygiene as part of the health measures to be taken,” Livinus said.