COVID-19: Lagos shuts 10 private schools

The Lagos State Government has sealed ten private schools for flouting the directives issued by the federal and state governments as a result of COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the safety of students.

The Director General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State, Mrs. Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, who led the monitoring and investigation team, disclosed this during the second and third phase of the massive monitoring of private schools compliance to the directives.

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“No doubt, COVID-19 has had negative effects on our schools but we want students to come out stronger and better.

“We want to make sure schools are closed; we also want to make sure schools are adhering to the closure directive since the number of COVID-19 infection cases has increased over time.”

Ayeni revealed that a large number of private schools visited across the state were found to have complied while the non compliant ones have been sealed.

The exercise which she said would continue across all the education districts in the state seeks to discourage the nonchalant attitude of some schools to this directive.

The Director General, who earlier warned of the danger inherent in the exposure and clustering of students in a class in the name of lesson strictly reiterated that any school where teaching and learning is ongoing while trying to beat government scrutiny without concern for the health and safety of learners will be sealed.

She encouraged parents and school owners to abide by the directive of the Lagos State Government to stay safe and healthy by promoting washing of hands with soap, wearing of mask in public places and using alcohol based hand sanitizer.

The DG pleaded with schools to embrace the norm of online school and also to empower and improve the capacity of their staff through online virtual training and webinar.