As a follow-up to the published guidelines for the safe reopening of schools in Lagos State, the Ministry of Education, through the Office of Education Quality Assurance (OEQA), flagged off the training of school owners, leaders of schools, school associations, school networks and educators in the State on the measures for reopening schools in the context of COVID-19.
The Director-General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, at the commencement of the two-day training workshop, disclosed that the objective is to prepare schools for a safe and hitch-free reopening with the provision of templates and processes for assessing school readiness to reopen across the State, assuring that schools will be holistically supported to guarantee that the registration for reopening and subsequent clearance will foster overall safety and hygiene protocols.
“School owners, leaders of schools and educators will be trained to have a seamless registration process. The process involves registering to get a special code, which is the first part that involves self-assessment, training and verification for reopening clearance. Schools are to download the Federal and Lagos State Government Schools Reopening Guidelines and the Safety Guidelines from the agency website”, she explained.
According to the Director-General, the training themed Moving Forward: A Training for the Safe Reopening of Lagos State Public & Private Schools covers segments for questions and answers to burning issues that schools may have as they strive to balance a strong education system with promoting health and safety.
Seriki-Ayeni, in a chat with BusinessDay at the workshop venue, said that the Office of Education Quality Assurance is responsible for ensuring and upholding standards in schools below tertiary level and has made the health and safety of students and teachers a priority.
While noting that adequate safety measures have been put in place by the Lagos State Government, through the State Ministry of Health, she implored all Heads of Schools and Administrators to promote the culture of thorough washing of hands with running water and soap; installation of hand wash stands at strategic locations and accessible areas within the school premises for staff and students as well as the provision of alcohol-based hand sanitizers.
Others measures, according to her, include encouraging students to keep fingers away from the nose, eyes and mouth; making tissue papers available to all students; preventing contact with people suspected to be infected and advising students with suspected symptoms or high temperatures to stay at home.
Seriki-Ayeni also implored school leaders, students and families to maintain a high level of personal and environmental hygiene to safeguard pupils, stressing that during routine monitoring exercises, OEQA evaluators will continue to emphasise hygienic practices and also monitor compliance in schools.
Participants at the Tuesday event were drawn from public schools across the six education districts.
