Teachers back move to cancel third term | EduCeleb
EduCeleb
29th July 2020
Teachers in Lagos State have backed plans by the state government to cancel third term in the 2019/20202 academic session after the Federal Government approved the resumption of only students in exit classes of Senior Secondary School three (SS3) across the country.
This would afford the students opportunity to write the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) like their counterparts are across West Africa.
The teachers believe that the state government option was in the best interests of all stakeholders in the education sector and that it showed the priority placed of lives of students and teachers across the state by the government.
An earlier report by EduCeleb.com indicated that the government was considering canceling the academic year third term and use students’ grades and assessments in previous terms for their promotion to the next classes.
Reacting to the planned cancelation, the Chairman, Nigerian Private School Teachers Association (NIPSTA), Peter Dugbo, noted that it was gratifying that government shared concerns of those in the sector by its proposed cancelation after considering the pandemic effect on the school calendar.
Dugbo, through a statement released on Wednesday, maintained that while the public schools can use students’ grades and assessments in previous terms as criteria for promotion to the next classes, private schools should be allowed to decide its mode for promotion of students.
“I think it is a welcome idea. The Lagos state government has taken into cognizance the fact that school closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the loss of an entire term.
“In order to meet up with the regular school calendar which runs from September to July, the best option is to cancel the third term by getting students and pupils in public schools promoted with their results of first and second terms.
“In terms of promotion from one class to the other, private schools should be left to decide what assessment instrument to use.
“This is because some private schools actually conducted the end of term examination online during this period of lockdown which could act as the third term examination,” the statement read.