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| Education Minister Adamu Adamu |
The Federal Government has insisted that the January 18 resumption date for schools in the country remains intact despite fears over the surge in COVID-19 cases in Nigeria.
“After extensive consultations with relevant stakeholders, including State Governors, Commissioners of Education, Proprietors and heads of institutions, staff unions and students, the consensus of opinion is that the resumption date of 18th January should remain,” the Federal Ministry of Education said in a statement issued on Thursday by its Director, Press and Public Relations, Ben Bem Goong.
The Ministry, however, explained that all schools and parents must ensure strict compliance with COVID-19 protocols such as wearing of face masks, social distancing among others.
“These measures which are to ensure safe reopening of schools for academic activities will be subject to constant review as we urge teachers, school administrators and other stakeholders to ensure strict compliance,” the ministry added.
Earlier in the week, the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 had hinted that it would review the resumption date (January 18, 2020) for learning institutions in the country, citing the rising COVID-19 infections in Africa’s most populous nation.
This had sparked fears among many Nigerians that school resumption might be put on hold indefinitely even though many states in the country had set dates for the reopening of the learning centres.
The Federal Government had on December 21, 2021, ordered the closure of schools across the country until January 18, 2021, even though many learning institutions had ended classes for the year and set resumption dates for the first and second weeks of January 2021.
According to the Chairman of the PTF, Boss Mustapha, the closure of the schools was to allow the COVID-19 prevention measures introduced to take effect in the learning centres.
A Resurging Pandemic
In March 2020, the Nigerian government had ordered the immediate closure of schools, just weeks after the country recorded its first COVID-19 case. They were, however, reopened in October when the West African nation’s infection rates began to decline. But the second wave of the pandemic, a few months later, prompted authorities to shut down schools to forestall further spread of the disease.
The second wave of the pandemic in Nigeria has seen more persons contracting the disease and the nation surpassing the 100,000 case landmark on January 11th. A total of 1,382 persons have so far died from COVID-19 which was first reported on February 27th in Nigeria.
As of Wednesday, January 13, 2021, 103,999 cases of the virus have been confirmed in Nigeria and 82,555 of them treated and discharged.
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