By Charles Ogwo
It first started as opinions expressed by some entrepreneurs in the education sectors and now the agitation is rapidly spreading among other stakeholders. But the dissenting opinions are also strong and varied. The contending issue is whether the time is now right time for the re-opening of all educational institutions closed by the government in the wake of the rampaging Coronavirus in Nigeria.
In the last few weeks, following the relaxation of the Covid-19 lockdown by Federal Government and the various state governments, some parents, school proprietors and other stakeholders have been making appeals to the government to throw open the gates of the schools for formal classroom learning to begin again across the country. But a large number of other stakeholders believe that it is premature to start considering the reopening of the schools with the pandemic curve yet to be flattened.
Since late March, the outbreak of the virus has forced millions of Nigerian students and their teachers/ educators to be kept at their homes away from schools just at it happened in almost all nations of the world.
At the onset of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic outbreak many countries adopted different approaches and measures as they considered appropriate for their situations and exigencies. Countries like France, Britain, Malaysia, and many other countries adopted total closure of its schools.
China, the first country to experience the pandemic on January 5 had its schools closed; however, school activities in certain provinces of the country were restarted about 3 weeks after closure.
In United States of America, Finland and some other nations, partial closures were adopted where schools in the risk areas were closed first. United States, in particular, mapped out a period of approximately 8 weeks of school closure.
In Sweden, the primary schools and pre-school centres remained virtually opened, basically to take care of needs and interests of parents in medical fields, while high schools and tertiary institutions are closed.
In Nigeria, the government and many schools embraced the virtual learning techniques to keep the learning process going while the physical classrooms were closed.
But many stakeholders have their reservations over the social media cum distance learning approach adopted to cushion the negative effects of clampdown on schools.
Mrs. Olubunmi Olukayode, a Parent, who appreciates the efforts made by the government and schools to ensure that the students are positively kept busy during the school closure, is displeased with the way the present virtual learning is being conducted.
“Honestly, virtual learning is not the best. It comes with many challenges which are alien to many students and parents. For instance, some of apps used by many schools do not give room for interactive learning,” she said.
Olukayode also pointed out the epileptic electricity supply, which sometimes deny students of joining lectures as at when due, and some other recurring obstacles that comes with virtual learning.
Some also believe that the transition to distance learning at a big scale was sudden without considering the capacity of schools to offer quality classes and that of students to have the structure, system, and support in place to absorb the learning process.
These are the main basis why there are agitations by some stakeholders for the opening of the schools very soon.
Aare Afe Babalola, the Chancellor of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State, who stated that the persistent rise in the number of people infected with Covid-19 did not in any way suggest that the pandemic would soon come to an end, advised the government not to wait until all communities in the country were free from the pandemic before reopening all educational institutions.
Babalola made special case for the immediate reopening of private universities and schools known for ‘quality and functional education’ after they had been certified to have fulfilled certain conditions.
“The school must establish that it has residential accommodation for all students and most, if not all, of the staff. Parents shall give a written undertaking supported with medical certificates that the student is fit or healthy to resume academic work. The institution, which must be fenced, must have a main gate manned by security men, nurses and other medical personnel. There shall be about three running water tanks at the gate where students will wash their hands with soap,” he said.
Some of the other conditions he listed include provision of portable hand sanitizers, infrared thermometers available at the institutions’ main gates, Polymerase Chain Reaction Serological Test Machines, buildings specially designed to accommodate any student suspected to have any type of infectious diseases, two functional machines in each school – one for external fumigation and the other for internal fumigation.
Mrs Janet Olapade, a Parent, is one of those agitating for the speedy reopening of the schools. She is contending that society has more to lose with the school closure than the threat of widening spread of the virus.
“We have to be oblivious of the threat of the intellectual virus. This is the stagnation of the learning and academic process in the society. Ignorance and stagnation have worse effects on the society than this virus that is locking us all down,” she said.
But there are others that are not favorably disposed to the reopening of the schools now. Mrs. Blessing James, a Teacher, could not hide her fear over the call for resumption of schools in the nearest future. She cautioned that the issue of school reopening should be evaluated rather more holistically.
James believes that the three critical stakeholders of the education sector: government, school administrators/owners and parents; are not ready yet for the resumption of schools.
She argued that the governments are not ready considering the fact that the facilities for the diagnosis and prognosis of the virus are not made available to the schools. The administrators, she asserted, seemed to be confused on how to manage the curriculum in the face of the pandemic while describing the school owners, especially the private schools, as business people, who care more for their turn-over than what is ideal in such a time like this.
“Why would one envisage resumption of schools in such a confused period as we have at hand in Nigeria? Most teachers are not trained on how to manage such a pandemic, and you want to trust the health of our little ones in their hands. Is that not madness, the blind leading the blind. How will the teachers be able to handle health issues resulting from covid-19 and academic impartation?” she asked.
James explained that most parents could not bear added financial burdens that will come from school fees, sanitizers, face-masks, and other sundry expenses; bearing in mind that most of them are either out of jobs or faced with reduced salaries and incomes.
Furthermore, she wondered if the teachers will be made to wear face-masks to teach and the students wear the same to answer questions.
For Chinwe Oganeze, another Parent, if there will be reopening of schools in the shortest of time; it should be for those from Junior Secondary Schools and above who can adhere to instructions concerning covid-19 pandemic.
“School resumption amidst the ongoing pandemic is very risky, especially for children below the age of 10 years. This class of children does not know their right from their left. They embrace each other at random, play together, with no social distancing observed,” she said.
Oganeze stated that teachers would also be exposed to the virus because not many of the schools have what it takes to manage the situation as demanded by the pandemic prevention protocols.
Also, some stakeholders argue that school resumption could also serve a positive purpose in the fight against the pandemic. Their argument is that schools can be used as platform for creating awareness of the pandemic as well as use to fight the virus.
But on the other side of the argument, there are some who pointed out the fact that in states and communities with low capacity and infrastructure, schools premises and community members can be used to provide support to the community in facing the crisis, especially as isolation and treatment centres.
Many believe that the challenges of rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria
make it expedient to imbibe the short-term solutions and strategies adopted by many countries the world over.
Also, there are those who expected that this is the right time for the government to start designing post-pandemic actions to mitigate potential social and learning inequalities resulting from confinement.
This might have made Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer, The Redeemed Christian Church of God, to state that the government should understand that it cannot afford to lockdown the people forever.
Adeboye, who appreciated the government for its various efforts in combating the pandemic, reminded the leaders of the need to take a decisive step in returning normalcy in the economic, social and education communities, as life can never thrive in clampdown.
Some stakeholders are also quick to point out that negativity sides of the Swedish experiment, where the primary and high schools were never really closed and the economy was opened as the government relies on moral suasion among the populace to enforce the safety protocols. However, statistics from the Scandinavian country reveals that it has one of the highest per death rate per capital from Covid-19 infection in Europe.
This sad situation has promoted some stakeholders in the country to start the #SaveSweden Movement, aimed at persuading the government to take a hard look at locking down the country.
Ms Andreia Rodrigues, a Preschool Teacher and member of the Movement, told the media that many Swedish parents and teachers want to stay home and keep themselves and families safe but are being forced by government agencies to keep the schools open.
She said the government moral suasion policy is not enough to protect the people.
Also, Professor John Klein, of the University of South Eastern Norway told Reuters that keeping the schools open is suicidal for the children
“From a pure infection prevention perspective, it does not make sense to keep the schools and kindergartens open,” the professor of Microbiology and Infection Prevention said.
However, investigation by The Educational Tide revealed the various governments in Nigeria might be bowing to the pressure to reopen the schools in the near future. This might, however be done with the strict compliance to the toughest safety protocols available.
The Lagos State Government is already making efforts to put in place safety measures and gadgets in its public schools. These efforts include the provision of running water and hand sanitizers in all the schools to ensure adequate hand washing by the students and school staff.
Also the state government is planning for the fumigation of its schools across the state.
A Federal Government top official, in confirming the consideration of the school reopening said the government is thinking of using the 2020 national Examinations Council (NECO) Ordinary Level Examinations as a test run for the idea.
“We are working towards starting the NECO Examinations in July as a test-run. If we can get the WAEC to come on board we will do this also. The outcome of this will determine the reopening of the schools. But it will be in phases,” she said.
But many are still cautioning that it is very ideal to put into consideration the effect of the time of school closure in comparison to the rate of spread of the virus. Even though some might argue that short closure time frame could be ineffective to curtailing the virus, others believe that a very long closure period may give rise to higher socio-economic challenges, besides disrupting learning, dislodging intellectual communities with its potential attendance high level of dropouts among students.
This then leaves the government in a fix on how to strike a balance between the risks of the pandemic and the socio-economic cost of lockdown.Many believe that the challenges of spreading COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria have made it expedient for government to imbibe the short-term solutions and strategies adopted by many countries the world over.
Some stakeholders believe that the government should be more proactive than reactive to issues arguing that from late March when the schools were closed, it ought to have put in place adequate measures to return the people and the education community back to normal activities without jeopardizing their lives.
Also, there are those who expected that this is the right time for the government to start designing post-pandemic actions to mitigate potential social and learning inequalities resulting from confinement.
These, however, should include adequate measures that would help return the people and the education community back to normal activities without jeopardizing their lives.
Additional reports by Tunde Niyi-Akinmade
