According to ASUU, they are in full support of the Federal Government’s decision to stop Senior Secondary School 3 pupils from partaking in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination earlier scheduled to commence on August 4.

The union advised the government to shut down schools until 2021 to ensure adequate preparations, citing the case in some countries such as Kenya.

The Federal Ministry of Education met with officials of the West African Examination Council in Abuja and resolved to announce a new date for the examination.

The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, had also said the government would consult with the four other countries under WAEC to set a new date, while announcing COVID-19 mandatory guidelines for schools which must be kept before July 29.

The ASUU President, Prof Biodun Ogunyemi, who made the recommendations in an interview with Sunday PUNCH, said no reasonable government would take such chances unless parents would be told to sign an undertaking.

Ogunyemi said, “Look, Kenya has said they have closed all their schools till next year (2021); they too have exams to write. Safety first. If it means closing the schools until next year to safeguard the lives of Nigerian children and safeguard the health of all Nigerians, so be it.

“So, if that will help us to address cases that can lead to increase in mortality, I think Nigerians should go that way and all of us should see reason for it. If they need to cancel admission for the year, it is good for them. Life matters first, people must have life first before they can go to university. Are the universities ready to work now?

“Our position is that they should not experiment with the lives of our children. Nobody can tell; the situation may soon normalise and they can do their exams and there is another opportunity for external candidates around November. So, it’s not as if the door is totally closed.”

The ASUU president added that the union had not seen any evidence to show that schools were secured for students to go back.

He said, “The first thing that should be tackled is whether schools are safe. And if the schools are not safe, why do you want to carry out an experiment with the lives of our children? An attempt to send back the children to school at a time there is a spike in COVID-19 cases in Nigeria is like experimenting with the lives of our children.

“If they put all the things in place, including social and physical distancing, sanitisers, kitting the children as we see in other places, decontamination with water flowing in the schools and all the gadgets, why not? So, if government can meet all these conditions, then they can reopen the schools. But if they cannot meet all these conditions, they should not experiment with even 10 students in any school.”

Meanwhile, the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools has said that its members are ready for school reopening and that as part of measures to curtail the spread of COVID-19, it has directed its members to open schools for about four hours daily.

NAPPS, in an interview with PUNCH oted that since the Federal Government had given the directive on school resumption for terminal classes, it was relating with its members nationwide on a number of safety protocols to put in place.

The NAPSS National President, Chief Yomi Otubela, said, “Our association, as the registered umbrella body of private schools in Nigeria, has been interfacing with Federal Government representatives, including the Ministry of Education and other agencies, concerning how to combat the spread of COVID-19.

“The fact that pupils are returning to school does not mean that we are going to spend the total hours as it used to be in the past. We are considering a little time of about three to four hours in school. This is to ensure that there is no room for children to go on break and play around the premises.

“And we have also discussed with our members that there should be staggered resumption. Staggered resumption means that if the JSS3 class comes to school by 8am, SSS3 can come by 9am and the Primary 6 classes can come by 10am. This is to ensure that we don’t get the entrances and the exits crowded.”

The president noted that schools had been instructed to have infrared thermometers, and also avoid teachers marking students’ books manually.

Government has given school owners up to July 29 to meet all the COVID-19 guidelines released for the safe reopening of schools.

The Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, made this known today July 17.

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Education’s Director of Information, Ben Goong, the Minister said schools are expected to undertake self-assessment and send feedback to State Ministries of Education, not later than July 29. The Minister added that an official date for safe reopening of schools will be announced once these guidelines have been put in place.

Nwajiuba said the Federal Ministry of Education, consulted widely with the Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), the Education in Emergencies Working Group before developing and circulating the guidelines issued for the reopening of schools. He added that a mechanism to assess and monitor compliance with the guidelines will be put in place.

“Consultations with relevant stakeholders will be held to review the situation and decide on a specific date for reopening or otherwise.

“Furthermore, the Minister said, having taken the painful but necessary decision not to reopen schools without necessary preparations to ensure the safety of students and teachers, the Federal Ministry of Education has continued consultations with stakeholders, and a mechanism to assess and monitor compliance shall be put in place,” the statement said

Regarding the 2020 WASSCE that has been cancelled, Nwajiuba said

”We met with WAEC on Monday and have agreed to further consult with four other countries on a new examination date. We appreciate the concern shown by all stakeholders and note the divergent views expressed on the matter.

Parents should be rest assured that the safety of our students and teachers is paramount as we work assiduously towards speedy reopening of our schools for the exit classes to take external examinations.”

Former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, and former presidential media aide, Reno Omokri, have kicked against the Federal government’s decision to cancel the West African Senior School Certificate Examination WASSCE for this year.

Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu had on Wednesday, July 8, announced that the Federal government will be rescinding its decision to reopen schools for graduating students to take part in the WASSCE examination scheduled for August 4 to September 5. Worried by the increasing number of confirmed Coronavirus cases in the country, Adamu said schools in Nigeria will only be opened when it is safe for students.

However, in a statement released today July 10, Atiku said canceling WASSCE examination puts Nigeria at more risk. He said the decision to cancel the examination which is not meant only for Nigerians, is not in the best interest of the country. His statement reads

”As a parent and investor in the education sector, I wish to register the fact that the Nigerian government’s policy of unilaterally cancelling the West African Senior School Certificate Examination, held annually by the West African Examinations Council, is not in Nigeria’s best interest.

At a time of the global COVID19 pandemic, it is understandable that an abundance of caution be put in place to save lives. However, caution, without consultation, and thoughtful action, may be counter productive.

1.5 million Nigerian youths write the West African Senior School Certificate Examination annually. To abruptly cancel this examination is to set back our nation’s youth, and place them behind their contemporaries in other West African nations. This is perilous, because Foreign Direct Investments and other economic indicators, are tied to the educational indexes of nations.

Already, Nigeria lags behind other African nations in crucial indices, like school enrolment, pass rates, and out of school children. This action, will further create chaos in the public education system and exacerbate an already bad situation.

Rather than cancellation, there are better ways to protect the health of Nigerians and prevent the pandemic from escalating. We could mobilise all available public and private infrastructures including primary schools, stadia, and cinemas, for the examinations. In the alternative, the Federal Government can prevail on WAEC to have a staggered examinations with a different set of questions for each shift. Doing so will allow WAEC Nigeria implement social distancing and achieve the goal of carrying out the examinations. A win-win scenario.

I urge this administration to take into account that the lives they are trying to save will be further put at risk, because if this policy is not reversed, tens of thousands, and possibly hundreds of thousands of Nigerians, will breach social distancing rules to cross over to neighbouring West African nations to write their WASSCE, rather than miss a year.”

Reno in his reaction said Nigeria’s education system does not have the capacity to handle an overwhelming number of students who would be ready to take the examination next year. He wrote

1.5 million Nigerians write WASSCE every year. Nigeria does not have the capacity to hold WAEC exams for 3 million people next year. What this means is that, if this policy is not reversed, every Nigerian child will miss a year, not just the final year students.

Edo has 2,210,534 voters, while Ondo has 1,822,346. A total of 4,032,880. WAEC has 1.5 million registered students in Nigeria. WAEC exams takes 5 hours. Voting takes all day. So, what is the rationale for suspending WASSCE, yet go on with Edo and Ondo elections?

Ghana opened schools for final year students and confirmed that WAEC examinations will hold. Meanwhile, Nigeria suspended WAEC exams. That is because Ghana’s President, @NAkufoAddo is a graduate of @UniofOxford,  and General @MBuhari has questionable WAEC status!”he tweeted

A Professor of Educational Management, Sidikat Ijaiya, has asked the federal government to ensure that proper assessment was done before schools are permitted to reopen.Ijaijya on Wednesday warned that such assessment should be completed ahead resumption of students to avoid widespread coronavirus infections.The former Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Academics, University of Ilorin, told newsmen in the Kwara State capital, that in spite of fear, something has to be done for schools to resume.She observed that private schools online lessons were working for parents and students in urban areas, while the rural dweller are left out“In any case, online lessons cannot take the place of face-to-face teaching in the education of young citizens, so, it is inevitable,” NAN quoted her as saying.She urged all Nigerians to “speak up on the side of education, especially to assist the government on possible strategies to adopt in the reopening of schools without an upsurge in the spread of the pandemic”.The don said the challenges of Nigerian are worrisome already without the COVID-19 pandemic.She highlighted them as overcrowded classrooms, poor sitting arrangement, stuffy classrooms, poor infrastructure, poor hygiene, shortage of classrooms and teachers.“There are classes with 50 to 150 students, especially in big towns and cities. Pupils are sitting on mats and bare floors in some schools. How do we manage that in the face of the pandemic,” she said.On the Presidential Task Force (PTF) position on reopening, Ijaiya said “even though there is no date yet and the trend of the new spread does not look favourable, now is the time for Nigerians to speak up because it affects all of us.”The Professor advised the federal government to consider staggered/gradual approach, as suggested by the PTF, starting with SS3 students due for public examinations.She said this help to determine whether there is a need for staggered classes, as per morning and afternoon shifts.Ijaiya suggested that towards that end of the exam, all schools, “including the tertiary ones, can be mandated to prepare a draft of how they would manage social distancing and other aspects to prevent any spread of the pandemic”.She said that before resumption, teachers should receive thorough orientation on COVID-19 to allay their fears and to take precaution seriously as well as for information on what to do if they suspect a case.Ijaiya stated that the first few days of resumption of students should be spent on the same orientation and that there should be no assumption that the students know all about COVID-19.“In addition, schools will need some palliatives, not just food: more good teachers, classrooms, chairs and desks, sanitisers, soap, regular water supply, facemasks, wash hand bowls, towels, clean toilets, etc”, she said.

The government has postponed the reopening of schools from 29 June to 28 July to allow education and treasury authorities to mobilise for the provision of adequate resources.

This was said by the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Monica Mutsvangwa while addressing the media during a post-Cabinet briefing this Tuesday in Harare.

Mutsvangwa said:

“In line with His Excellency, the President’s decision that schools should start re-opening, Cabinet resolved that the re-opening of schools be moved from the proposed 29 June to 28 July 2020 to allow the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to engage treasury and other stakeholders to mobilise for the provision of adequate resources.”

“However, the decision to re-open schools does not affect the June examinations which will run from 29 June to 22 July, as initially announced.”

“Primary and Secondary Education Minister Cain Mathema said an average of 11 candidates will sit at each examination centre to enable social distancing to be observed-State media”

Nigerian writer, Gimba Kakanda has claimed that the management of the Bayero University Kano, has concluded the translation of Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics textbooks into Hausa.

According to Kakanda, “this is a welcome development as it is a very effective way to domesticate science and technology in our society.”

Nigerians are however divided on the new development. See their reactions below.