[NEWS] Education Minister Says No Date Yet For School Resumption

The Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, has said that regardless of the declaration by the President, on a slow unwinding of the lockdown, the Federal Ministry of Education couldn't predict or give any date when schools will continue in the nation.

Emeka said this while reacting to newsmen during an instructions by the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday in Abuja.

The acting Secretary for Education, FCTA, Umaru Marafa, in an announcement on Tuesday, confirmed that the mandate shutting all schools at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic expressly expressed that it would be in actuality "until further notification."

The minister stated,

“The President actually addressed the issue of the opening of the economy gradually. Until that is done, we can’t foresee or immediately tell you when all the schools will be reopened. It will not be proper for us to simply give you a date.

It has to be in tandem with these opening terms. We don’t want to put our children at risk. None of these schools can function on their own without the society.

“On the question of children promoting to the next class, those exams will happen when we are satisfied that the children have learnt what is enough for them to move.

For those who are in the exit classes of junior basic and senior secondary schools, we are preparing them and will continue to.

“This will go on until we are sure that they are equipped for the external examinations. The West African Examinations Council has not cancelled their external exams. It was postponed indefinitely.

This indefinite nature is so that we can get a definite date. Students will still have to go and take those exams when we are sure that we have taken good care of the pupils.”

In the interim, the Federal Capital Territory Administration Education Secretariat has forewarned schools against re-opening, taking note of that it had not given any mandate for resumption of scholarly exercises.