Ebola crisis should affect pupils alone

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Students and education based organisations have condemned the planned reopening of primary and secondary schools by the Federal Government.

They wondered why the FG wanted the pupils to resume when it has not satisfied the conditions that resulted to the schools closure.

It will be recalled that the Minister of Education, Ibrahim Shekarau, had during a press conference held to announce the closure of schools, said the schools would be opened when adequate facilities and infrastructure that could tackle EVD have been provided.

But, the groups argued that the conditions of primary and secondary schools in the country remained unchanged since the outbreak of the disease.

One of them, President of Education Rights Campaign, Hassan Soweto lambasted the FG for attempting to risk the pupils’ lives.

Soweto alleged that FG wanted to open the schools to justify political rallies and gatherings it held after the disease outbreak.

The activist said, “EVD is a great crisis but it is not one that should affect the pupils alone. If the ministry of education has decided to fix a day for resumption, it must therefore means that all the mechanisms needed to ensure the lives of the pupils are safe while in school.
Facilities approved by WHO for the prevention of EVD have to be provided accross the nation, whether it is private or public.

“The schools cannot be closed forever, they have to be reopened one day but not in haste. Ones the schools are closed, political rallies and gatherings should also be banned. It is insincere that it should be only pupils that will be suffering it.”

President of Muslim Students Society of Nigeria, Lagos State Area Unit, Kamil Kalejaiye warned that it was dangerous to expose the pupils to risk.

He described the planned opening of the schools as a “hasty decision”, saying no visible measures have been put in place to curtail the disease.

He said, “Come to think of it, if the pupils resume on september 22, what are the measures that the government has put in place to ensure that it will be curtailed. Presently, the government are not telling us the measures. They are only bothering us with the resumption of the pupils. Things must be put on ground and the risk of allowing the pupils back to school must be assessed.

“The risk should be defined and the response should be determined before any action is taken. Ebola case should not be taken with levity hands, it should be approached like an epidemic. Most of this schools don’t have pipe-borne water and other infrastructural facilities and we are saying that our pupils should resume, which is wrong. Let the principals come and give the situation in their schools publicly, then we will know what to do. Ebola should not be let out of control like the case in Liberia.”

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