Confusion greets resumption date for students in exit classes in Enugu
By Ikechukwu Odu- Nsukka
Contrary to the reports making the rounds in Enugu State that secondary schools will resume for exit classes in the state on the 4th of August, the state Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uche Eze, has said that students are to resume on the 7th while teachers will resume on the earlier agreed date.
Prof. Eze who spoke to Vanguard on Wednesday, equally said that the arrangement was to allow teachers of different schools to supervise their facilities in readiness for student’s return.
However, when Vanguard visited some schools in Nsukka metropolis, students who did not get the latest updates were seen in different schools, and some school premises covered with grasses of different sizes.
At the Model Secondary School, Nsukka, the principal, Mr. Emmanuel Obiora Ezugorie, said he was contemplating sending some of the students back home pending when the school will be ready to receive them.
“This is a new development from the state ministry of education. What the students were told was that school will resume today. That is why some of them are here. However, the ministry has mandated staff to adopt all safety protocols towards curbing the spread of coronavirus before students would be received back to school. It is a pity because some of them came from very far places and maybe asked to go back until we receive directives from the state government to receive them,” he said.
At the St. Theresa’s College, Nsukka, some students were seen cutting grasses around the school premises.
The school principal, Rev. Fr. Milletus Ezikeanyi, who spoke to Vanguard assured that the school has put all the safety measures in place to ensure the safety of the students. Although he disclosed that there would not be compulsory laboratory coronavirus tests for the returning students,
He said the school management would conduct temperature checks on the students and would order those with suspicious body temperature to return home for adequate medication before they would be allowed to join their classmates.
When Vanguard visited Federal Government Girls College, Lejja, also in Nsukka Local Government Area, officials of the federal ministry of education were seen inspecting facilities in the school, even as returning students were equally seen roaming about in the premises.
Though the officials of the federal ministry of education declined to comment on their impression of the facilities, the school principal, Mrs. Oji Rachael, said the school is ready for the students.
She also said that the state government has decontaminated the school facilities to guarantee conducive human habitation.