Private school owners in Lagos Stateand the Federal Government mayclash over the latter’s order directingall primary and secondary schools inthe country to resume on October 13,2014, instead of the anticipatedSeptember 15.The school owners, under the umbrellaof the National Association ofProprietors of Private Schools, believethat the directive is unnecessary andshould not be considered as part of themeasures to prevent the spread ofEbola virus in the country.They expressed their feeling at asensitisation programme on Ebolaheld on Thursday at Victory GrammarSchool, Ikeja, Lagos.The Minister of Education, MallamIbrahim Shekarau, had announced theresumption date after a meeting withthe 36 state commissioners ofeducation on Tuesday in AbujaBut speaking at the sensitisationprogramme, the Lagos State Presidentof the National Association ofProprietors of Private Schools, Mr.Yomi Otubela, said, “We have sent ourappeal to the Federal Governmentthrough the Lagos State SpecialAdviser on Public Health informing itthat if religious organisations andother places are left open, thesechildren could as well contract thevirus there.“If markets that have more crowd thanwhat we have in schools are notasked to close down, then we wonderwhy the government will not allow usput preventive measures in place andallow these children return to school.School is supposed to be a place ofknowledge and we are to educate andexpose them to the knowledge onwhat they need to know to prevent thespread of the virus, not keeping themout of schools and keeping themignorant of what is happening.”But the Special Adviser to the LagosState Government on Public Health,Dr. Yewande Adeshina, disagreed withthe school owners, asking them toabide by the Federal Government’sdirective.She also asked them not to placepriority on their financial wellbeingover the physical wellbeing of theschool children.The founder of Supreme EducationalFoundation Schools, Mrs. AdenikeAdamolekun, also said the directive bythe Federal Government wassenseless.She said, “Just as we are praising theFederal Government for beingproactive in containing the Ebola virus,we are also condemning them on thisone. It does not make sense at all.Even if they had any doubt, what theyneeded to have done was to have puttogether some precautions and extendit to all schools, ensuring that allschools abide by them.“Shutting the schools for a wholemonth, considering the fact they will beshut down next year again because ofelections, is a bad idea. Moreover,parents do not know what to do withthose kids. I think this is anunnecessary approach to the issue.”A school proprietress, Dr. Maggie Ibru,stated that what the FederalGovernment could have done was toprovide hand sanitisers in all privateand public schools in the country.She said it was in the capability of theFederal Government to provide handsanitisers and increase the level ofsanitisation in all schools in thecountry.She said, “No, the Federal Governmentgot it wrong on this one because thiswill not stop the students fromparticipating in internationalexaminations. What the governmentshould have done is to supply allschools with hand sanitisers, bothprivate and public, because who attendthe private schools too are Nigerians.“They should allow the children to goback to school. What to do is simple:the Federal Government could haveincreased the sensitisation level onEbola prevention in our schools and ifpossible, give a directive to all schoolsnot to allow guests enter theirpremises, or rather mandate everychild and visitor be subjected to a testbefore entering the school premises.These are the measures that theFederal Government should havetaken.”Meanwhile, inadequate test andtreatment centres for the Ebola VirusDisease has been identified as one ofthe greatest challenges threatening thegovernment’s efforts to contain thespread of the deadly virus.Though four test centres have been setup in the Lagos University TeachingHospital; Centre for Disease Control inAsokoro, Abuja; University CollegeHospital, Ibadan; and the RedeemersUniversity Laboratory, Kilometer 35Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, doctors,who spoke with Saturday PUNCH,flayed the government over what theycalled inadequate test and treatmentcentres in the country.They said that adequate test andtreatment centres are very importantto the management of Ebola outbreakamong other measures such assufficient isolation facilities andprotective kits for medical personnel.According to them, it is unheard of fora country of over 160 million people torely on four test centres at a time it isfaced with a deadly disease that has,in the World Health Organisation’sestimation, killed 1,552 people in WestAfrica.The Ebola Virus Disease was on July24, 2014 imported to Nigeria by a 40-year-old Liberian-American, PatrickSawyer.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 08:11:11 +0000
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