COVID-19: Presidential Task Force Cautions States On Full Reopening Of Schools
The Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Nigeria has warned states against rushing to reopen schools fully ahead of proposed relaxation of measures taken to curb the spread of Coronavirus in the country, PUNCH gathers.
Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Chairman of the PTF, Boss Mustapha, speaking on Monday August 31 in Abuja said it would be in the best interest of Nigeria to stick to it’s slow phased easing of lockdown rules because it was effective. According to Mustapha:
“It is in the above context that the PTF appreciates the on-going calls for re-opening of the education sector and indeed some sub-nationals are already making preparations for such.
“Whilst the PTF does not discourage making such preparations, we need to be guided by experiences from countries such as Germany, France, the United States and the UK where opening of schools in some cities led to an increase in confirmed cases and fatalities.”
He also said more sectors of the economy may soon be reopened, and that the PTF would present its recommendations to President Muhammadu Buhari this week, which will determine the next phase in the national response.
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According to Boss, the last three weeks had shown a slowdown in the number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in the country, as in the last four months of testing, the lowest daily figure of confirmed cases (138) was reported on Sunday August 30th.
We had earlier reported that schools in the country had been shut in March as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease.
However, the Federal Government announced the resumption of graduating pupils effective August 4, 2020, to write this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination from August 17, 2020, through September 12, 2020.
Subsequently, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said on August 29 that primary and secondary schools in the state would fully reopen from September 21, 2020, while tertiary institutions in the state would also reopen from September 14, 2020.