The Minister of State for Education Mr. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba presented the proposed guidelines for the reopening of schools to the National Assembly on Tuesday June 23, .
Schools across the 36 states in the country were shut down in March by the Federal Government to help fight the spread of Coronavirus.
Making the presentation in a meeting with the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education, the Minister also disclosed that they suggested a way to move the education sector forward during the Coronavirus pandemic.
He said;
“We don’t want to make it known at this time so that some people will not take our proposed guidelines for school reopening.
“Even if the Senate has not called us, we would have come to you to discuss with you because we have already discussed with the House of Representatives.
“The documents were presented to you so that you can criticise and make inputs as major stakeholders.”
Vice-Chairman of the Committee, Akon Eyakenyi however expressed fear of pupils in public schools having a distorted academic session as most of them do not have the opportunity to learn online during the pandemic like their mates in private schools.
Yes l agree, the public education sector cannot compete with its counterparts in the private sector, most private schools adopted the virtual learning and they almost done with 3rd term’s workload! God forbid the epidemic extends beyond this year how would children in public schools meet up or cope?!
I think the Government should do more by upgrading the the public Schools than just feeding What the schools and pupils/students need are more than the schools feeding Yes is good if the Government can afford to feed them or the less privileged kids Otherwise what we need in this Country is the conducive environments/atmosphere for learning Types of Schools in terms of the buildings, playgrounds, different types of laboratories/workshops, schools gardens, the schools environment/surroundings and all the qualities which schools supposed to get All the above mentioned should be world standards that can be able to compete with any school in the world The environment and surroundings should be as free and quite place as possible as it is mentioned in education After getting all that takes schools to be good and standards then provide all the teaching and learning equipments/materials Then screen all the existing teachers select the good ones to keep arrange and ask the week ones if they still want to keep their work as teachers or they want to do something else instead After finding out send all those weak teachers that still want their jobs as teachers then provide alternatives for the ones that are just doing the teaching job just for survival Also employ more qualified and interested teachers What I mean by interested is that not only the trained ones let all those who have passion for teaching or working with children to apply Then select those who really want to do it and have the zeal to do it and give them the training they need to be qualified for the teaching job The Government should also ensure that the staffs of the LEAs and the ministries whom are responsible for the schools/teachers supervision and curriculum development to be qualified and capable of doing their jobs as educationally agreed After making all the above mentioned available now the Government assist them with uniforms, school shoes, sucks May be a set or two for each pupil/student at the beginning of each academic session Then provides them with toiletries , disinfectant and other necessities like such on monthly basis Things like milk, other simple food supplements that can help provide protein or which are good for their brain development and function With some washing soap, detergent etc on weekly basis After putting all the mentioned above in place and the Nigerian Government still want to continue with the feeding Then the Government has to be ready as well as fully prepared to do it otherwise if all the important and necessary things that are mentioned above are provided I think it’s okay But if they still insist on the schools feeding there are some measures that have to be taken to continue from where they stopped
Great points you have here. You have said it all. God bless you..