Bauchi State Ministry of Education has directed primary and secondary schools in the state to resume on 12 October under strict compliance to COVID-19 protocols to complete the 2019/2020 academic session.
State Commissioner for Education, Dr Aliyu Usman Tilde, who disclosed this on Friday in Bauchi through a Circular made available to newsmen, said the decision was taken at a stakeholders meeting, which had in attendance, representatives from the ministry of education, health, SUBEB, Bauchi State Agency for nomadic Education, Special Schools Management Board, Nigeria Association of Private Schools amongst others.
Tilde said that given the low cases of COVID-19 reported in the country and the pressure from parents and consideration of the side-effects of prolonged school closure, some states like Lagos, Kogi, Taraba and Plateau have reopened their schools fully or partially.
Tilde explained that the development led to the meeting of School Exchange Program where Commissioners for Education of the 19 Northern states met and discuss among other things, the issue of reopening of schools and calendar last week in Abjuja, where a decision was taken, subject to the approval of the state governors that schools should be opened between now and 30th October 2020.
“At the meeting, the stakeholders resolved that no school should resume unless it meet the conditions stipulated in the schedule, which implies that not all schools may resume on the 12th of October.
“In Bauchi state, the school COVID-19 reopening template which was used to reopen the SS3 classes in the month of August, will be expanded to cover other classes. That all schools with low population can resume fully and run their usual school hours since social distance can be achieved while observing other COVID-19 school protocols,” he said.
