The National Parent/Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) has expressed surprise at the proclamation by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, that schoolchildren nationwide will not be allowed to sit the West African Senior School Certificate Examination slated for August 4 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
NAPTAN National President, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, said in an interview,. the association had resolved to meet Adamu by Monday to seek an amicable solution.
The association had in the last week of May called on the government to reopen schools nationwide “to pupils who will be sitting external examinations of the West African Examinations Council and the National Examinations Council.
It said parents had resolved to work together with schools to put measures in place such as the provision of face masks, handwashing containers and hand sanitisers to minimise the risks of virus contraction by the pupils.
The Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, had during the press briefing by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 last Monday announced that the 2020 WASSCE conducted by WAEC would hold between August 4 and September 5.
But the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, said again on Wednesday that all federal schools would remain closed until it was safe to reopen them, urging state governments that had announced school resumption plans to rescind such.