CoronavirusEducationReps Fault FG Suspension of School Resumption

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The Federal Government’s decision to suspend its plan of partial reopening of schools for persons in final classes to write their external examination has been faulted by the House of Representatives.

The Committee on Basic Education and Services criticized the FG decision to disallowed the Nigerian pupils from writing the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination for the 2019/2020 academic session. The exam was usually conducted by the West African Examination Council.

Schools in Nigeria at all level had been shut as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 had earlier in June said the Federal Government, in what it called “safe reopening of schools,” had approved resumption of pupils in graduating classes, including Primary 6, Junior Secondary School 3 and the Senior Secondary School 3.

Later, the Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, during the press briefing by the PTF announced that the 2020 WASSCE would hold between August 4 and September 5.

But the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, at the end of a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Wednesday said all federal schools would remain closed until it was safe to reopen them.

Adamu also urged state governments that had announced schools’ resumption plans to rescind such.

Reacting to the development, chairman of the committee, Prof Julius Ihonvbere, however, expressed the displeasure of the lawmakers in a statement issued on Friday titled “WASSCE should not be cancelled.”

Ihonvbere said, “The House Committee on Basic Education and Services received with amazement, the announcement by the Minister of Education that Nigerian students would not be participating in the forthcoming WASSCE.

“He did not inform the country if this was in agreement with other West African leaders or in consultation with the examination bodies, the state governments and other stakeholders in the education sector.

“This sudden policy reversal is not good for the country. It is bound to create further confusion in the education sector, create disappointment and suspicion among parents, frustrate the students and show to our development partners and Nigerians that the distortions and disarticulations in the sector are only getting worse.

“The reversal also shows that our policymakers may just be adopting a laid-back approach to the need to confront the novel coronavirus rather than taking proactive and creative steps to manage and contain it.”

Ihonvbere added that the committee disagreed with Adamu and “believes that a reconsideration is urgently needed to save our educational system.”

Bada Yusuf Amoo (Correspondent)

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