COVID-19: Nigeria insists schools won’t reopen despite WAEC timetable

*No school will participate in WASSCE scheduled for August to September ─Education Minister

*We feel responsible for whole children in Nigeria, not just those in Federal government-controlled schools

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

Contrary to an earlier report (not in ConsumerConnect) that the Federal Government would reopen Unity Schools for graduating students to sit for their final examinations August 4, 2020, Malam Adamu Adamu, Honourable Minister for Education, has said that it was a misrepresentation.

Malam Adamu disclosed this when he addressed State House correspondents after the virtual meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC), in Abuja, FCT, Wednesday, July 8.

The Minister said that Emeka Nwajiuba, Minister of State for Education, was misquoted when he spoke on the matter at a briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 Monday, agency report says.

Nwajiuba was said to have announced that school facilities would be made available for revision classes ahead of the examinations which commence from August 4 to September 5, 2020, while reportedly calling on parents to take note of the date.

The Minister for Education, however, declared that the Federal Government’s schools, fondly called Unity Schools, would not reopen soon until it is safe to do so because of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic.

He stated that “schools under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Education will not reopen on August 4 or any time soon.

“Our schools will only open when we believe it is safe for our children and that is when the situation is right, not when the number of COVID-19 infection is going up in the nation.

He stated that “I just want to make that clear…. We will not reopen schools now for examinations or any other reason unless it is safe for our students.

“Even WAEC cannot determine for us what we do. So, schools will remain closed.

“Yesterday (Tuesday) we called a meeting of stakeholders to tell us their situation and what needs to be done in order to reopen schools but while the meeting was going on, WAEC announced that they will start exams.

“So let’s see who they are going to start with.

According to Adamu, “I feel responsible for the whole children in Nigeria not just those in Federal government-controlled schools. Please let’s save our children from this.”

The Minister, who decried the way and manner WAEC is handling the issue of the examination timetable, emphasised that no school would participate in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) earlier scheduled for between August 4 and September 5.

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