The Oyo state government has announced some important guidelines which schools are expected to follow to ensure a smooth resumption in the state.
The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Olasunkanmi Olaleye who made the announcement on Wednesday July 1, said school heads, principals and teachers have undergone training on how to monitor and report any suspected case of Coronavirus.
An Emergency Operation Centers (EOCs) has been set up in the State capital and at the zonal levels. Incident Managers have also been appointed for each school in the state, and they are expected to report any emergency directly to the EOCs through special communication lines.
Each class will also have Warder whose obligation is to relate with the Incident Managers on his or her observations. Schools in the state must also observe compulsory hand-washing points at its entrances and at the entrance of each classroom. Alcohol-based sanitizers must also be provided for students and teachers.
Olusunkanmi 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 facemasks 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.”
The Commissioner also allayed fears of members of the public on risks associated with reopening of schools.
This is coming after the state government announced that teachers of public schools in the State are to resume on June 29, while students are to resume on July 6.