Minister Of State For Education, Emeka Nwajiuba Speaks On When Schools May Re-open
Emeka Nwajiuba, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Education, has suggested when schools may re-open nationwide.
Speaking during a briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday, the minister disclosed that schools may reopen after the ban on interstate travel has been lifted nationwide, PUNCH reports.
The ban was placed by the Federal government as part of measures to contain the spread of the novel Coronavirus in the country.
According to the minister, teachers and students will have to be able to have access to roads to travel back to their schools for academic activities to resume. He also said that schools will not be allowed to open unless medical experts have given their nod for resumption of academic activities.
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In his words:
“We want to open when it is safe to do so. We have heard about neighbouring countries that opened and shut. We have heard about cases spiking with children getting into school. Of all the things I will like to do, I will not like to experiment with your children.
We want a situation where once we are sure it is safe, we can then take them into school. I have just finished a meeting with the representatives of WAEC and NABTEB and I understand how that worries our parents at the moment and how anxious our children are to know what next.
As soon as those in charge of the blockade lift it because there is no way we can open our schools if teachers can’t come. So, we are looking at somewhere after the interstate lockdown is lifted. Because we will need that kind of openness for the children to move.”
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The Federal Government had in March shut all schools in the country as part of measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.