President Buhari to instruct the Ministry of Education to partially re-open schools for graduating students.

Members of the House of Representatives have called on President Buhari to instruct the Ministry of Education to partially re-open schools for students in graduating classes to sit for the 2020 West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination.

This call came days after the House Committee on Basic Education and Services issued a statement rejecting the decision of the Ministry of Education to rescind on its earlier decision to re-open schools for students in graduating classes to carry out revision work and also write their examinations.

Recall that the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, had on July 6 announced that the examination, which was earlier scheduled for April this year but postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, will now hold from August 4 to September 5.

However, after the virtual Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday, July 8, the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, announced a reversal of that decision. He said Nigerian schools will not reopen any time soon “until it is safe to do so because of the COVID-19 pandemic”. According to him, final year students preparing for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) will not be allowed to return to school contrary to the earlier announcement. The Minister added that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) cannot determine the resumption date of schools for Nigeria.

The House during plenary today urged President Buhari to instruct the Ministry of Education to partially re-open schools for students so they can write their examination.

On Monday, July 13, the Ministry of Education released guidelines for schools to re-open but was however silent on the date of resumption.

Schools in Nigeria have been closed since March following the outbreak of the Novel Coronavirus