- By Reporter
In Nigeria: Strict protocols as secondary schools resume for exit classes
By Our Reporter
August 5, 2020 - Students in the exit classes of the secondary schools in Nigeria have resumed classes preparatory to their final examination, the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE), which had been disrupted by the pandemic.
Some of the schools visited in Nigeria's capital city, Abuja had most of their students in attendance amid strict social distancing, mask wearing and compulsory temperature checks and sanitising before being admitted.
Many of the students and teachers expressed delight that they had resumed after the months-long lockdown without the usual academic activity.
Mrs Essien Enewan-Okon, Principal of Government Secondary School, Wuse Zone 3 in Abuja, said that 90 per cent of students in the school’s exit classes have resumed.
“They are all in their classrooms, very happy and we teachers are equally happy to resume; we thank God and the FCT Administration, who have made it possible for us to resume.
“As a government school, we are fully prepared for resumption because the FCT Secondary Education Board gave us all it takes to resume, starting from hands sanitizer, buckets for hand washing to face masks.
“The entire school premises was fumigated, we washed our classrooms and created the two meters distance required for desk spacing in all our 11 classrooms before resumption,” she said.
The principal also said that the school on resumption began by giving the students orientation on the new normal and how to go about their lives in school and at home.
“We even told them the type of food they should eat and pray to God that they should comply with the protocols,” she said.
A student in the school, Daniel Boluwatife said that she was excited to come back to school because the uncertainty of whether or not Nigerian students would be writing the 2020 WASSCE was very disappointing to her.
Also, Michael Oyegoke said, “I am excited to come back to school because there were a lot of distractions at home than in the school environment”.
On whether the teachers would be able to cover their syllabus within the two weeks preceding the WASSCE, both teachers and students were optimistic.
Mrs Felicial Ogbuegebe, head of sciences department in the school said that before they went on lockdown, there was only two weeks remaining before the WASSCE.
“We had covered our syllabus and we were doing revision before the lockdown came.
“All we need to do now is to revise with the students because staying at home for this long, they must have forgotten one or two things.
“Every safety measure has been put in place before the school resumed; so all the teaching staff are joining our hands together to teach the students, especially the sciences – Physics, Chemistry and Biology.
“All the teachers are now involved in preparing the exit class; this time it is not a time for a teacher to say that he teaches only SS 3 or SS 1 classes.
“Whatever class you teach, we are all involved with the SS 3 class now to make sure that they get whatever they need to get before their exams, ” she said.
An optimistic Nuralhuda Mohammed, a female student said “my expectation for WASSCE is that, it will not be hard for me because I have read over and over during the lockdown, so, I am good to go.
“Since my teachers have all covered all their schemes of work and I am not new to the school environment, I have nothing to worry about,” she said.