Richard Ginika Izuora
The Federal Government has dismissed media reports that Unity Schools will be reopened for graduating students to sit for the West African Examination Council (WAEC) examinations.
The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, stated this when he addressed State House correspondents at the end of the virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Wednesday, July 8.
Adamu said the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, was misquoted when he spoke on the matter during a Presidential Task Force Briefing on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday, July 6.
Nwajiuba was reported to have announced that school facilities would be made available for revision classes ahead of the WAEC examination which commences from August 4 through September 5 and called on parents to take note of the date.
However, according to Adamu, the Federal Government’s schools will not reopen any time soon until it is safe to do so because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Schools under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Education will not reopen on August 4 or any time soon.
“Our schools will only open when we believe it is safe for our children and that is when the situation is right, not when the number of COVID-19 infection is going up in the nation.
“So, I just want to make that clear.
“We will not reopen schools now for examinations or any other reason unless it is safe for our students; even WAEC because WAEC cannot determine for us what we do. So schools will remain closed.
The minister frowned at the way and manner WAEC was handling the issue of the examination timetable; saying the ministry of education was consulted before the announcement of the new date for the exams.
He, therefore, emphasised that no school would participate in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations earlier scheduled for between August 4 and September 5.
“Yesterday we called a meeting of stakeholders to tell us their situation; and what needs to be done in order to reopen schools; but while the meeting was going on, WAEC announced that they will start exams.
“So let’s see who they are going to start with,” he said.
“I feel responsible for the whole children in Nigeria not just those in Federal government-controlled schools. Please let’s save our children from this.
“You can look at this scenario; just one infected child going into a class can infect everyone in the class and after classes; they go back to the hostel; because children cannot observe social distancing as expected.
“If one child in the hostel is infected, the next morning everybody will be infected; so this is not the right time to open schools,’’ he said.
He, therefore, maintained that final year students preparing for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) would not be allowed to return to school contrary to the earlier announcement.