Kano state government has approved August 10 as the date for the reopening of schools for students preparing for the Senior Secondary school Certificate Examination.
The approval was made known by the Commissioner for Education, Muhammad Sanusi S. Kiru while briefing the press in his office on Monday.
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He warned that under no circumstances should any school reopens before the scheduled date vowing to sanction should be meted out for violation.
He said the decision to open on the scheduled date was reached to give the state ministry of environment ample opportunity to disinfect the schools before resumption.
The commissioner urged principals and proprietors of public and private schools in the state to use the one week notice from Monday to conclude their preparations to ensure that all COVID-19 guidelines are met.
He further charged them to work out modalities to reduce their hours of work to four hours per shift and to ensure that social distancing is strictly observed both in classes, laboratories, libraries, and hostels.
He added that the state ministry of health would deploy staff to the schools for consistent temperature checks on staff and students.
He asked school owners to make provision for emergency isolation rooms so that as soon as suspected cases of COVID-19 are identified among staff and students, they could be isolated before their eventual transfer to the state isolation centre for treatment.
Kiru said the state government would through its compulsory education policy and shoulder the responsibility of conducting test for coronavirus on the returning students and staff as enunciated in the Federal government guidelines for reopening of schools.
According to him, 11,046 candidates had registered for WAEC from 199 public schools in the state.
He said before the scheduled date of resumption the State Governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, would flag-off distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including facemasks and hand sanitisers to the schools.
The State Chairman of Parents Teachers Association PTA, Malam Sani Salisu Dan’Hassan said they have not been invited for a meeting over the plan to reopen the schools.
He said “As parents, we don’t have any problem with the date as far as the safety and security of our children is guaranteed.”