Nigerian govt announces new resumption date | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
27th July 2020
The Nigerian government has rescinded its earlier decision to postpone the resumption of students in spike of the COVID-19 pandemic cases recorded.
On Monday, the Federal Ministry of Education announced that secondary school students in the “exit classes” will resume on 4th August.
This was announced in a statement signed by its Director, Press and Public Relations, Ben Goong in Abuja.
Mr Goong said the decision was reached at a virtual consultative meeting between the Federal Ministry of Education and Commissioners for Education of the 36 states, the Nigerian Union of Teachers, (NUT), the proprietors of private schools and the Chief Executives of examination bodies.
The Ministry further stated that students will have two weeks to prepare for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), which will now start on 17th August.
“Secondary schools in the country are to reopen as from the 4th of August, 2020 for exit classes only.
”It was agreed that the exit classes should resume immediately after the Sallah break, from 4th of August, 2020 to enable them prepare for WAEC examinations which will commence on August 17th, 2020.
”The meeting also resolved that a passionate appeal be made to the Federal Government through the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 and public-spirited Nigerians for assistance to schools across the country to enable fast track the preparations for safe reopening.”
EduCeleb.com recalls that the government had four weeks earlier announced a resumption date but later suspended that due to safety concerns over the increasing cases of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This has attracted criticisms widely with stakeholders calling on the government to review such a decision.
In this new arrangement apparently, only students in Senior Secondary School 3 would be resuming on the said date while others were to remain at home.
Inadvertently, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) would have to reschedule some papers earlier fixed for the between the first two weeks of August considering this change.
The government also intends to hold further meetings with the Chief Executives of examination bodies namely, the National Examination Council (NECO), the National Business and Technical Education Board (NABTEB) and and the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) to harmonize their examination dates.
Details of the meeting would thereafter be made public by the ministry, Going hinted.