Pupils in at least 15 states in the country will not return to their classrooms today as directed by the Federal Government.
This is because in most of the states, teachers are insisting that safety measures must be put in place to protect them and their pupils from contracting the deadly Ebola Virus Disease.
In some of the states like Lagos and Ogun, the governments opted not to comply with the September 22 date until necessary Ebola safety kits were put in place in their schools.
Also, the gates of the 104 Unity Schools in the country will be shut from today as their teachers commence an industrial action.
The other states where normal academic activities will not resume are Rivers, Oyo, Ekiti, Osun, Benue, Niger, Zamfara, Adamawa, Kano, Kwara, Kogi, Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi states.
Teachers in Lagos will be on duty today but pupils will remain at home until October 8.
There had been controversy over the directive by the Federal Government that schools should resume on September 22 since the spread of the Ebola Virus Disease had been contained in the country.
The Nigeria Union of Teachers however ordered its members to shun academic activities until the government provided gadgets in schools to ensure not only their safety but that of their pupils.
Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, after meeting on Sunday with public school headteachers, said the decision was to ensure that schools in the state were safe for both the teachers and their pupils.
He said, “On this issue of resumption, we are on the same side. We are all concerned about safety in the schools.
“Some states that would be commencing their academic session tomorrow(today) did not have Ebola outbreak. The index case (Mr. Patrick Sawyer) landed in Lagos and not in these states. And I know that the teachers are afraid just like myself. My biggest fear is that nothing must happen to any resident of Lagos. I am not shy to say I am afraid.
“I understand the fear of the teachers. We are on the same side. We are all concerned about safety in the schools. Whether there is Ebola or not, we have to make the schools safe for the teachers and the pupils.
“My proposal is that the teachers, headmasters and principals should go to their various school tomorrow (today) and sort out whatever is missing in the prescribed Ebola preventive facilities. So, we have to use from tomorrow (today) and the rest of the week to get the schools ready for the students.
“And because of the Eid-il-Kabir festival that also falls within this time, rather than open and close the schools again for the festival. Immediately after the festival, the schools will commence academic session on October 8.”
He said that the state government had “awarded the contract to connect water to at least 800 schools in the state.”
The state NUT Chairman, Mr. Segun Raheem, confirmed the development to one of our correspondents.
Raheem, who argued that teachers in the state had always been in schools even during holidays, however, urged the government to ensure that it provided the necessary facilities before the return of pupils on October 8.
The Secretary to the Ogun State Government, Mr. Taiwo Adeoluwa, had last Friday announced October 8, as the new resumption date for both public and private primary and secondary schools in the state.
Adeoluwa said stakeholders in the state arrived at the new date after a series of meetings.
The state chapters of the NUT, the Academic Staff of Secondary Schools, the Association of Primary School Head Teachers of Nigeria, the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools and the All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools, he added participated in the meetings.
In Akwa Ibom State, the NUT Secretary, Mr. Mike Ike-Ene, said that schools would resume on Monday but that teachers would not be there to teach the pupils.
According to him, the state government had yet to provide the needed EVD safety kits ,like infrared thermometers, sanitisers and hand gloves in schools for the use of pupils and their teachers.
Ike-Ene said, “There will be no school on Monday. They will open their schools but teachers will not be there.
“We are asking them to provide thermometers; water; hand sanitisers and hand gloves. The Akwa Ibom State Government has not met any of these conditions rather they are calling for the resumption of schools tomorrow(today).”
The Kwara State NUT Chairman, Mr. Musa Abubakar, also confirmed that teachers in the state would not resume today.
He told one of our correspondents on Sunday that the state government had not made enough provisions to prevent teachers and pupils from contracting the EVD on resumption of schools.
The state Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Saka Onimago, had directed all schools in the state to resume today.
He had also ordered schools in the state to provide basic hygiene materials, including washing bowls, soap and towels.
The Osun State Government, in a statement by Deputy Governor Titi Laoye-Tomori, said it deferred resumption of schools to October 6 to enable teachers to undergo training on how to prevent the spread of Ebola.
It explained that the new resumption date would allow schools to prepare very well to prevent the disease.
Source: Punch
May 29, 2013, 08:50:52 AM