Millions of Nigerian pupils, students and undergraduates have been home for over two months now following the outbreak of the coronavirus in Nigeria. The gates of schools have since remained shut.
Apart from the debate of opening churches, another bone of contention is the issue of school reopening.
The Lagos State government is already in consultations with the Federal Government concerning the reopening of schools and the necessary procedures that should be taken.
The authorities are cautious and want to observe the behaviour of the pandemic before schools are reopened.
Amid confusing reports and growing speculations on the possible date for school reopening, many parents, private school owners, children and other stakeholders are increasingly becoming apprehensive over the true position of things.
A cross section of parents, private school prioprietors and analysts who spoke with BDSUNDAY said that the situation with increasing cases of the coronavirus in the country and the level of infrastructure unpreparedness on the part of most government-owned public schools may present a cause for concern.
According to them, it may be catastrophic should schools resume now considering the current state of most public schools with little or no contingency plans put in place to contain the coronavirus.
Adebisi Felicia, a mother of four children told our correspondent that she wants school to resume not only because of the private school teachers or school owners, but because of the academic future of her children.
“My fear however, is that I don’t know if government will take up their responsibility of putting the necessary measures in place to ensure the safety of students. As much as I yawn for school resumption, all hands must be on deck to tackle the threat posed by this virus because COVID-19 is real,” she suggested.
On his part, Bayo Ogunjimi, another parent, wants the school to reopen but said that all the necessary safety measures must be put in place in schools.
Ogunjimi opines that if markets and banks could resume without threat, then government should allow schools to resume.
He observes that the online initiative being carried out by some private schools for primary and secondary schools are all scam, adding that students could hardly learn under that condition.
Ogunjimi who is also a teacher, opines that school should open because there is no alternative means of survival and no palliative from anywhere for private school teachers and owners.
“It is only when government reopens schools that I will work, earn my full pay and be able to perform my responsibility as a parent to my children,” he said.
Contrarily, Ugochukwu Ihejirika, a concerned parent, says he doesn’t think that the schools should reopen now for physical academic activities.
According to him, aside the monetary loss to private school owners, I don’t think school owners should be calling for schools resumption at this time that numbers of confirmed cases of Covid-19 has been on the rise.
“To me, the government is not and can never be ready because over time successive have proved by their actions that they are not for the masses. My children will not go anywhere until the coast is clear. Do they love my kids more than I do?” he asked.
Ihejirika further said: “Honestly, I think schools can resume in September. Government should pay teachers and other staff palliatives both in public and private schools. Losing 3-4 months in the academic calendar can be recovered. After all, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has gone on strike for six months before and nobody died. I have written off 2020 already.”
The coronavirus pandemic which has ravaged economic activities in the entire globe, has laid bare Nigeria’s failed educational system. The sector has been one of the biggest losers since the outbreak of the pandemic forced the government to close schools completely.
Unlike other countries of the world that have resorted to the use of technology to facilitate e-learning, Africa’s largest economy has been left in the shade due its high infrastructural deficit, high poverty level and widening inequality gap that have cast a spell on the nation’s ability to use digital technology to drive an inclusive learning for its burgeoning population.
The pandemic has exposed the weakness in the country’s educational system with a more devastating effect on the underserved populace, according to Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Minister of State for Education in Nigeria.
For the rich, who could afford some of the best private schools, the school closure presents an avenue to explore the use of digital learning.
BDSUNDAY checks on public schools in Nigeria shows that due to poor funding by government, many public schools have overcrowded classrooms, dilapidated infrastructure, poor sanitary facilities, lack of running water and sick bay while in some cases, students practice open defecation in nearby bushes.
These cultures have not only gone further to expose public school pupils but have also shown potential threat to health, should school resume now with no available vaccine or cure for the virus at present.
While public schools grapple with the challenges of infrastructure and readiness to resume, their private counterparts have far building infrastructure that would enable learning post Covid-19.
For instance, schools such as Greensprings School have been training their entire staff on the precaution to take to prevent the spread of Covid-19 among the students and staff of the school.
“We have nurses who had additional training on the sensitisation of the Coronavirus. We have warning posters all around the school premises and automatic sanitisers gel dispensers in every bathroom and public administrative area, and we have body temperature scanners which would be applied to everybody entering the school premises,” said Lai Koiki, executive director of the school.
According to Koiki, schools under the Association of Private School Educators (APEN) of which Greensprings is one of them, are ready for resumption post Covid-19, adding that she does not know the preparedness of public schools in term of measures put in place to contain the spread of the virus.
“Like all private schools, we are a fee paying school. It has cost schools like Greensprings School millions of naira to get ready for resumption. This will be an on-going course until we are safely out of the coronavirus health issue”.
Stella Uzodinma, School proprietress in Lagos, who said that the Federal and Lagos State Governments have given guidelines for the resumption of school, assured that school owners have started putting measures in place in their various schools.
“I would suggest as a parent that health official should go round from time to time to check if these guidelines for resumption are properly follow to the teeth and any school found lagging behind should be sanctioned or even outright closed if need be,” she said.
Wondering the role the State Inspectorate Division of the Ministry of Education has played in monitoring the sanitary conditions of schools, she however stated that that majority of the private schools are ready to reopen.
BDSUNDAY gathered that while parents, School owners and students anxiously await resumption of school, the minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba have given insight that government is looking at adopting a two-shift system and allowing those who will write examinations to return earlier than others.
The model, he said, will ensure that all the children do not return to their schools at the same time to ensure physical and social distancing as well as proper sanitation and hygiene at every school.
Nwajiuba said government was also considering allowing Senior Secondary School students to finish first before others resume at a later date given that it was virtually impossible to practice social distancing in the schools.
Speaking recently during the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 in Abuja, the minister stated that schools would reopen when government is sure that children can go to school and return safely without taking Covid-19 home.
He stressed the Federal Government will rely on the opinion of experts and the guidance of the World Health Organisation (WHO) before announcing any school resumption dates.
On her part, Folashade Adefisayo, Lagos State Commissioner for Education, equally stated that just like other sectors already approved by the Federal Government to reopen, the state government is meeting with officials of the Federal Ministry of Education to design guidelines that must be adopted before the schools will reopen.
“We are watching the behaviour of the pandemic to see what happens next and we are working with the Federal government on the reopening of the schools in the country. This is not a decision that any state can unilaterally take on its own. If we are certain that the children are safe, we will reopen the schools,” she said.
According to her, “We are working with the Federal Ministry of Education and they are working with Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) on the guidelines that could be adopted when the need arises for schools to reopen. After the protocol is completed and health officials assures us that the coast is clear, we will give the schools some days to adjust their premises in accordance with the guidelines on commencement of academic activities”, Adefisayo said.
