COVID-19: We can only reopen schools if…, FG clarifies

Minister of State Education, Hon. Emeka Nwajiuba who dismissed social media reports regarding when schools would be reopened said the government would only reopen schools if medical experts give the nod to so do.

Nwajiuba disclosed this on Monday in Abuja during the daily briefing of the Presidential Taskforce PTF on Covid-19.

He said; “You had about neighbouring countries that reopened and shut down again. You have heard about numbers spiking as a result of reopening the schools. Of all the things I would like to do, I wouldn’t want to experiment with your children.

“What we are planning is to actually bring in those exit years first as soon as those who are in charge of the blockade lift it because there is no way we can open our schools if teachers cannot come. So, we are looking at somewhere after when this interstate lockdown is lifted because we need to have that kind of openness for even the children to move”, he said.

The Minister described as fake news timetables purported released from the Ministry of Education on the conduct of West African Examination Council examinations being circulated on the social media.

He maintained that only the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 could approve the reopening of schools following expert advice on the safety of schools for the children, adding that government was not prepared to experiment with the lives of Nigerian children.

The minister disclosed that he had a meeting on Monday with representatives of West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO) and National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) to brainstorm on how to conduct their pending examinations.

He said: “I just finished a meeting this morning with the representatives of WAEC, NECO, and NABTEB. I understand the worries of our parents at the moment and how anxious our children are to know what next.

“We looked at letters from WAEC Ghana, WAEC. The Gambia reopened schools today (Monday), and all of these people are participants in WAEC platform. The five countries of WAEC have almost about 76 subjects. Nigerians are taking about 17 of them, so we need to know the timetable that will take about six weeks to conclude WAEC exams.

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“It requires another six weeks to conclude NECO and another six weeks to conclude NABTEB examinations.

“Right now, we are all working on timetables, how to bring the timetables closer. What is permissible, what can we do, can we use Saturdays, can we use Sundays, what dates are available to us as soon as we can to bring them to some sort of closer.”

Nwajiuba clarified that any date to be announced by the Ministry of Education must pass through the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 first, stressing that it would not just be that the Ministry of Education “unilaterally commanded everybody to go back to school.

“We are running a government. It is not our prerogative to simply tell you what to do. We will bring you to government and government will do an appreciation on it.

He stressed that it would require experts telling the government that children could now resume schools in safety, appealing to parents to continue to keep the children safe at home in the meantime.