Gbenro Adesina
Oyo State Government has released guidelines for the resumption of schools in the state to prevent the spread of Coronavirus as students resume next Monday July 6, 2020, saying that face mark is compulsory for all students during the school hours.
The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Hon. Olasunkanmi Olaleye, speaking with newsmen in his office in Ibadan, said that various trainings have been given to categories of school heads, principals and teachers on how to monitor and report any sign of illness that showed symptoms of Covid-19 to the authority.
Olaleye said the state has set up Emergency Operation Centers (EOCs) in the state capital and at zonal levels and as well as appointed Incident Managers for each school who would report any emergency directly to the EOCs through special communication lines.
He went further to state that each class would have a warder, whose obligation was to relate with the Incident Managers on his or her observations.
He pointed out that it was compulsory for schools to provide hand-washing points at the school entrances and at the entrance of each classroom and alcohol-based sanitiser for the use of students and teachers.
He said, “Throughout last week, what we have been doing was to train school heads and teachers of public and private schools, preparing them for this task of taking firm control of preventing the spread of Covid-19 into our schools as we resume. Each school has been mandated to strictly enforce social distancing and observe other protocols against Covid-19 among teachers and students as laid down by NCDC. Students are to come to school with their face masks and follow instructions on the guidelines from the management. These are imperative. The government cannot lock down forever and education is an aspect of life that should not be allowed to suffer backwardness. I can boldly tell you that with these measures in place, the children are more safer with us in school than even many homes. Imagine situations whereby students are asked to go to private lessons that provided no safety measure. Many follow their parents to the market and workplaces, where possibility of contracting the virus is high. So, they are rather better kept at school than home”.
Hon. Olasunkanmi said the fear being exercised by the general public over the resumption was appreciated by the government, as it had helped the administration to be strict to the adherence of Covid-19 guidelines by the school management.
