SOUTH – WEST STATES TO REOPEN SCHOOLS AUGUST 3

The six south-west states of Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti have agreed to reopen schools in August to enable graduating students sit for the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

 The states’ Commissioners for Education, Special Advisers on Education and State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) reached the agreement at a virtual meeting organised by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission on Wednesday.

They agreed on the need for south-west states to implement a 2016 plan to establish a regional examination body similar to the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) in the north.

A statement by the DAWN Commission said the states would reopen schools for SS3 pupils on August 3 with COVID-19 preventive measures put in place.

DAWN said the states would approach the federal government to seek a postponement of the WASSCE by at least three weeks from the proposed resumption date and later approach WAEC to seek a postponement of the examination to the week beginning August 24.

On resumption, they said schools are to appoint incident managers and classroom wardens, while there would also be a designation of quality assurance department for each state to issue a safety compliance certificate to each of the schools before reopening.

They added that each state would encourage intensive advocacy campaigns to stakeholders, including parents, teachers, caregivers, school owners and pupils on what was expected of them when schools reopen.

They also called on WAEC to encourage Computer-Based Tests (CBT) in the future.

Earlier in the month, the federal government reversed its decision to reopen schools and withdrew students of Unity Schools from writing the WASSCE scheduled for August 5 and September 5.

The examination was initially postponed indefinitely to check the spread of COVID-19.

Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, had appealed to state governments who had agreed to reopen schools to reconsider the action due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nwajiuba also reiterated on Wednesday that schools should remain shut and not take part in the examination as it was not yet safe for academic activities to resume in schools across the country.

He added that stakeholders were holding meetings to ensure the right decision was made, adding that WAEC was also considering a change of date for the 2020 WASSCE.