COVID-19: It is insensitive to reopen schools now, government tells Oyo State

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Nigeria’s Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, has told the Oyo State government that reopening schools now is insensitive, considering the number of COVID-19 cases being recorded across the country.

 He was responding to a question on the decision of Oyo State  government to allow schools to resume in its senatorial districts at the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 briefing in Abuja on Monday. The state government had asked all students in terminal classes to resume on June 29, 2020. This affects students in primary six, Junior Secondary School 3  (JSS3)and the Senior Secondary 3 (SS3).

READ ALSO: COVID-19: 7 million students risk dropping out of school – World Bank Report

He said,  “The ministry of education did not give any guideline to Oyo State to reopen schools. We also think that that is a little bit contradictory.  However, Oyo State, like all other sub-national, has a governor and under our constitution, governors are responsible for their states.

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“But you must appreciate that the primary purpose of government is the security of its citizens. Security is not only when people start shooting guns at you; public health is key.

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“That is why we are extremely cautious in making any pronouncement around this because the education sector owns the largest number of infrastructure in the country. For you to even begin to decide to unroll and unleash this in the public in the face of a pandemic, is, to be the very least, insensitive.”

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READ ALSO: EXCLUSIVE: See what Nigerian schools are doing ahead of school reopening

He said Nigeria had not reached the stage of optimal testing and as such, government could not forecast where the pandemic was most prominent. Nwajiuba appealed to parents to remain patient on the reopening of schools, stating that “we don’t want any of our children arriving at doctors’ clinics at all.”

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