The Ogun State government has stepped down its order mandating SS3 boarding students in public and private schools to take COVID-19 and Malaria tests before being allowed to resume on August 4.
The government had given students four days – July 31 to August 3 – to get tested at any of the three designated COVID-19 testing centres in the State or private laboratories approved by the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
The government said students in government-owned schools would be tested for free and that it had negotiated discounts for students in private schools.
In a statement by Governor Dapo Abiodun, the government cancelled the directive and apologised to parents and students affected by the “inconvenience and confusion.”
“The State planned and provided testing, free of charge, for boarding students in our public schools and allowed for the management and parents of private schools to make their arrangements to get COVID tests,” the statement partly read.
The plan, however, ran into challenges as parents, on Sunday, protested the N25,000 – reduced from N50,400 — testing fee charged by private laboratories. The government later discovered that it was not feasible to have almost 6,000 public and private boarding school SS3 students tested before the August 4 resumption date, considering 500 daily testing capacity of the State-owned COVID-19 laboratories.
“After reviewing these developments, I have today immediately directed that the Government Laboratories carry out test for all returning SS3 boarding students at no cost. I have also directed that all those who paid for tests be refunded.
“…However in view of the total number of boarding students to be tested (5,340 private and 500 public), and bearing in mind the limitation of our installed testing capacity of 500 tests per day, it may not be feasible for all boarding students to gets tested and get their results prior to resumption or even exams which commence on 17th August, 2020.
“Consequently, the State Government has therefore stepped down the COVID-19 test as a mandatory requirement for returning students in our exit classes. We, therefore, enjoin private school owners to exercise their duty of care to their pupils.
“The admittance of students into boarding house in private secondary schools will be at the discretion of the management and the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of such private schools,” Mrs Soyombo stated.
Students who do not have to stay in the boarding house should attend school from home, especially those with underlying health conditions, the government said.
“The inconvenience and confusion experienced yesterday is highly regrettable and my sincere apologies to the parents and students so affected.”
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