School reopening: Nasarawa assures of students’ safety

Ahead of the August 17 final examinations for exiting students of secondary schools, Nasarawa State Government says it will prioritise the safety of its students in all the 51 centres, in accordance with Covid-19 guidelines.

The State Government gave the assurance on Tuesday during a press briefing by the Commissioner of Education, Hajiya Fatu Sabo Jemaita in Lafia, the State capital.

According to her, until all the necessary provisions that would contain the community spread of the pandemic were put in place, the Ministry was not in a hurry to reopen the schools.

Hajiya Fatu, however, added that work on fumigation and installation of sanitary tools have been considered for commencement in the 51 examination centers, which include public and private schools in the state.

“We are preparing a safe environment where a little above 26,000 students of the exiting class will sit for the WAEC/SSCE examinations.

“The state government led by His Excellency ,Engineer Abdullahi Sule, the governor of Nasarawa state is much more concern about the safety of these students.

“It is in this respect that we are undertaking an inter ministerial collaborations with the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Health, who are to ensure the provisions of fumigations, sanitary equipment, training and supply of PPEs, respectively, before we talk about opening our gates to the students

“On our part, we have ensured that our quality evaluation department go round these center for monitoring and ensuring that we live no stone unturned in terms of meeting up with the standard of the protocol as directed by the federal ministry of education,” the Commissioner explained.

Fatu reiterated that part of the task which the state government is working towards, is the provisions of isolation centres in the public schools, stating that private schools in the state are expected to ensure that they complied with the Covid-19 protocols before reopening of their schools.