Stakeholders in the educator sector have expressed concern over the readiness of government towards the safety of students as schools reopen for classes.
They urge government to ensure strict compliance and monitoring in line with safety measures put in place.
The stakeholders also clamoured for a high level of protection and called for continuous efforts to sustain the safety measures, stating that if any student gets infested in any school, the school is doomed as the stigma could stain the reputation of the school for a long time.
The stakeholders including school owners, teachers, educationists, health and safety experts and parents made the observations during a virtual meeting titled, “Ready or Not? Nigeria’s Post Covid Schools Reopening”, organised by an advocacy group, Advocacy Against Negligence in Schools, AANIS, in collaboration with an online radio, Spirit of Nigeria Radio, SNR.
The co-founder of AANIS, Mrs. Idy Toye Arulogun, in her remarks, explained that the meeting was organised to discuss the safety and general plan for students and teachers as schools reopen, stressing that AANIS was concerned about the safety in schools.
On her part, the CEO of Edumark Consult, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, called for caution, urging that government should be vigilant and ensure proper monitoring of the safety measures put in place.
She said, “Government needs to strategise for education in Nigeria. During the first week of resumption, I am optimistic every school will follow the COVID protocols but after then, schools will relax. This is why we need monitoring and we should be vigilant. We should not do what will make COVID increase.”
The Proprietor of Dansol High School, Lagos, Mrs. Adun Akinyemiju, lauded AAINIS for the programme, stating that the safety of students and teachers should not be taken for granted.
A school owner and Secretary of Lagos State chapter of National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, NAPPS, Elders Forum, Mrs. Temitope Odutola, in her own submission, expressed apprehension about the safety of students and teachers, saying, “I feel apprehension. As a school owner, I am worried about the safety of our teachers and students.”
“When the school was closed in March, we had less than 40 COVID cases but now, we have over 40,000 COVID cases. We must ensure a high level of protection in our schools. Students in private school can maintain social distance, what about students in public school. This is why government needs to ensure compliance with safety measures put in place,” she stated.
An Occupational and Safety Expert, Mr. Ehi Iden, raised an alarm that there was a growing infection rate among children according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) reports, appealing that government should not be too fast to reopen schools.
She said, “How can a child comply with physical distancing? We know this will be difficult. I do not think it is safe to open school. We need to restrategise and plan for virtual study. This is the new order we have to live with.”
The Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, in her contribution, said the state government had set up an inter-ministerial monitoring and compliance team having representatives from the Ministry of Health and Education, Safety Commission and other stakeholders to ensure that schools complied with COVID-19 protocols and safety measures.
She assured that the state government would get all schools into the safety net, stating that all hands were on deck to ensure COVID protocols were followed and no student or teacher was put at risk.
She said: “Re-opening school is not a decision taken slightly. Covid is not going away so soon, we should plan to live with it and the decision to open school was not an easy one. After school reopens, we will not have the total population of students and classes have been arranged in compliance with COVID-19 protocols. We have no plan of asking the Primary 6 and JSS 3 students to come back to school in Lagos for now.
“We are going to use the same rules for both public and private schools and we have done a checklist for schools as a means of documentation for government to know the readiness of schools. Also, all classes in schools will be used for SS3 students to ensure physical distancing.
“Lagos State has trained teams to ensure compliance with COVID protocols in schools. These teams comprise experts including representatives of the Ministry of Health and Education, safety commission and other stakeholders. We are not taking this lightly. If anything happens, there would be a serious problem for the country. We are not taking it with levity, this issue concerns life and wellbeing of the people. It concerns our reputation and we are taking it seriously.”
The Chairman, National Union of Teachers, NUT, Lagos State chapter, Comrade Adedoyin Adesina, who expressed concern with the reopening of schools, lauded the state government on the precautionary measures put in place for teachers and students, imploring the state government to extend the allowances given to health workers to teachers as they are now front line workers.
