The Federal Government on Monday announced guidelines marking the second phase of the gradual reopening of the economy in response to Organised Private Sector’s request. The guidelines have authorised banks to operate fully and allowed worship places to reopen but limit attendance to 20 people. Domestic airline operators have also been asked to prepare protocols for resumption of domestic flights from June 21.
However, schools will remain closed until a later date, the government said.
Amid this scenario, some parents have become restless and eager to see their dependants go back to the classroom. The parents worry that though the children are engaged in online learning, they may not be learning enough.
“It has been challenging dealing with my child’s education this period. Their school sends lessons and assignments online but I worry my children may be learning little and managing them at home is even tougher,” Ngozi Onoh-Okwuagwu, a mother of three children in primary school, said.
Schools have been closed for more than two months, in more than 190 countries affecting 1.57 billion children, according to UNESCO, but governments deployed measures for learning to continue through platforms, television and radio in what has been the most far-reaching experiment in the history of education.
In a May 18 article ‘Reopening schools: When, where and how?’, Stefania Giannini, assistant director-general for education, UNESCO, Robert Jenkins, chief, education and associate director, programme division, UNICEF, and Jaime Saavedra, global director, education global practice at the World Bank Group, argued that the longer the school interruption, the larger the learning loss, and the earlier schools can reopen, the less risk of long-term damage to the learning journeys and well-being of millions of children.
“We are concerned that prolonged school closures will exacerbate inequalities, deepen the learning crisis and expose the most vulnerable children to heightened risk of exploitation,” Giannini, Jenkins and Saavedra said. “We know from other crises that the longer marginalized children are out of school, the less likely they are to return. After the Ebola crisis in West Africa, we saw increased rates of sexual exploitation and teen pregnancy, demonstrating how girls are particularly at risk during school closures.”
However, education and public health experts say the rising daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Nigeria does not conduce for reopening of schools.
Nigeria recorded 241 new confirmed cases and 15 deaths from coronavirus on Tuesday, according to the country’s Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). In the last one week, there has been a daily average of 344 confirmed new cases across the country. As of Tuesday, 10,819 cases have been confirmed, 3,239 cases have been discharged and 314 deaths have been recorded in 35 states and the Federal Capital Territory, according to NCDC data.
Doyin Odubanjo, a public health analyst, said with the rising figures of confirmed new cases of the virus in Nigeria, it is not practical to reopen schools because they were shut down in the first place to contain the spread of COVID-19. Although children are among the least impacted by the pathogen, an infected child stirs a lot of emotions, he said.
“Besides, adults come to teach these children and the chances of an older teacher contracting the virus are high with attendant high consequences,” Odubanjo said. “Children will find it difficult to maintain social distancing rules.”
In Lagos State, Folasade Adefisayo, commissioner of education, told BusinessDay on phone that the state relies heavily on the advice of health experts and from observation, the curve of the virus is not flattening yet.
“We do not want to find ourselves in the position of some countries that reopened too soon but had to shut down after they noticed a spike in new cases,” Adefisayo said.
According to UNESCO, 100 countries have not yet announced a date for schools to reopen, 65 have plans for partial or full reopening, while 32 will end the academic year online.
The UK last month announced reopening of primary schools from June 1, but Osama Rahman, chief scientific adviser to the Department for Education (DfE), told the Commons science and technology committee that reopening schools could fuel the spread of coronavirus.
Questioned by MPs, he admitted that a wider reopening of schools could bring together “hundreds of potential vectors” that could lead to the spread of the virus. He also said there was a “low degree of confidence” in studies suggesting children transmit COVID-19 any less than adults, The Guardian (UK) reported on May 13.
Experts say calculating the risks and benefits of reopening schools is not a simple matter.
“The absolute priority is to safeguard the lives and well-being of communities, including children and teaching personnel,” Giannini, Jenkins and Saavedra said.
The experts emphasise consultation and communication with parents, teachers, students and communities at large to understand concerns and address them. This, they say, ensures the confidence and support to school reopening that is a prerequisite for informing policies, financing and operational measures.
