Reconsider Reopening Of Schools Now – NANS Tells Dapo Abiodun
Reconsider Reopening Of Schools Now – NANS Tells Dapo Abiodun .
The National Association of Nigerian Students, South West Zone has asked the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun to reconsider reopening of schools in the state.
The Deputy Coordinator of NANS, Southwest Zone, Comrade Oladimeji Uthman disclosed this on Tuesday in Abeokuta.
Comrade Oladimeji Uthman said that while the government gives tenable reasons not to join her counterparts in Oyo and Lagos in the reopening trend, those reasons do not win against the fact that continued school closure puts the academic life and by extension, the future of Nigerian students at peril.
In a report made available on Tuesday at Abeokuta, Ogun State Capital, the Deputy Coordinator of all Nigerian Students in Southwest geopolitical zone opined that if Lagos State with the highest index cases of the virus in Nigeria and Oyo State can take the bold step of setting the pace for school reopening, why not the Gateway State?
He maintained that Ogun State is a front liner when it comes to matters of education, adding that the same passion should motivate the Ogun state government towards doing everything humanly possible to make the academic sector fully functional again.
” The overall effect of continuous closure is of greater negative effect to our lives as students and citizens than the pandemic”, said the Students Leader.
He further added that the place of poorly monitored socialization among youths which is caused by the untold hardship and idleness the pandemic has caused cannot be overemphasized.
Comrade Oladimeji mentioned that social vices are on the increase in the society. “Rape, cyber crime, teenage pregnancy and the rest cannot be systematically or scientifically studied for remedy like the COVID-19. When parents are at work trying to earn a living for their families, the children are back home idle unconsciously and involuntary getting polluted through uncensored exposure to immoralities and bad socialization”, Oladimeji reiterated .
“The fact that the steady decrease in the COVID-19 infection cases is a clear indication that Nigerians are beginning to adjust their lifestyle to manage and survive with the virus that obviously has come to stay “, he said.
He urged the government to rather than wait forever to see the end of the virus, begin to develop practicable mechanisms, guidelines and policies that will make school reopening possibly across board.
” Resumption by now is long over due and a risk worth taking. Oyo State had to courageously set the pace for the first phase of reopening before the Federal Government was convinced to follow suit with the lift of ban on the conduct of WASSCE last month”, Uthman pointed out during his discussion with newsmen on Tuesday.
In his concluding remarks, the Deputy Coordinator stated that since the federal government is not a separate entity from its component unit, it is obviously the reality of what is seen at the grassroot that informs their policies and actions. He enjoined the Gateway State to join the pace setters as the pace has already been sent for resumption and reopen public schools in Ogun state .
