Lukman Olabiyi, Lagos
Tokunbo Wahab, the Special Adviser on Education to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, has affirmed that the school resumption date of September 14 in the State applies only to final-year students of tertiary institutions.
Wahab disclosed this on Thursday while featuring on a private television station programme, Sunrise Daily, emphasised that the students in the State will resume in phases.
The Governor’s aide explained that the State Government had put in place necessary facilities and processes to ensure the safe reopening of classrooms, but that final-year students of tertiary institutions would be expected to resume classes BEFORE students at other levels.
‘Basically, we are at a point where scientifically we’ve been proven to have flattened the curve. And it invariably means that we are not as exposed as we used to be some five, four, three months back. So, consequently, we have to find a way to bring our lives back to normal. And in doing that, education is very critical to whatever we are going to do,’ he explained.
‘In the past few weeks, we’ve been putting in place measures and facilities that will enable our children come back to school.
‘Even at that, what we seek to do from next week is to start a phased reopening of our tertiary institutions.
‘On September 14… our tertiary institutions are going to open to our students for the first time after six months.’
Speaking further, Wahab said the students have been having their lectures online all along and ‘they are going to come on campus to have their revision one-on-one and then they can now have their exams and their projects.
‘For our tertiary (institutions) from on the 14th, we are going to start with the final-year students across our tertiary institutions. With those final-year students, we are sure that they are older, they are more mature, and they are going to meet up with the protocol as put in place by the institutions based on the regulations of the NCDC (Nigeria Centre for Disease Control).
‘After we have phased them out, maybe after their exams, then, those in the penultimate year will come on campus. So, we are not going to put all our students on campus at the same time.’
Schools in the country had been shut in March as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease.
But the Federal Government announced the resumption of graduating pupils last month to write this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination from August 17 through September 12.
Lagos Governor Sanwo-Olu had subsequently announced the reopening of schools in the State, starting with tertiary institutions on September 14.