The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has reacted to moves by some private school owners to resume for the third term 2019/2020 session through online learning from 27th April.
This is as uncertainty continue to surround how schools would be allowed to fully reopen as the lockdown to prevent the spread of Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) persists.
Recall the Lagos State government had cautioned private school proprietors against using the online classes to replace actual classes for the third term.
It added that parents should be consulted widely should schools decide to charge fees for the online classes.
NUT Lagos State Chairman, Adedoyin Adesina appeared to be backing the government on this.
He noted that online education would go a long way in ensuring that students were not redundant during the COVID-19 lockdown.
He said this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.
Adesina stated that it would not go down well if the online teachings would be used as an alternative to the register and classrooms activities.
In his words, “Online teachings cannot replace classrooms teachings, but it is an alternative to curb redundancy amongst students.
“Since the fight against the Coronavirus disease surfaced, the Lagos State Ministry of Education had done well since March to engage students with online teachings.
“We don’t know how long the COVID-19 situation will last, but we are hopeful that it would soon be over and everything would resume.”
Adesina also said there were series of ongoing meetings among the private proprietors and the Lagos State Ministry of Education on the best way to handle the situation.
According to him, parents are complaining of high fees demanded by the private schools for online teaching for the third term.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Ministry of Education has maintained that all schools in Lagos State remained closed until further notice.
The ministry said the State would continue to offer free teachings on various media, especially radio and television, adding that it would also continue to improve on the educational offering of its distance learning programmes.
It noted that plans were underway to ensure that pupils in public schools were able to complete their term whenever the lockdown was lifted.
