CONTRARY to the Federal Government’s directive, the six South-West states (Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, ) have agreed to reopen schools, for students to sit for the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The Federal Government had on July 8, reversed an initial decision asking schools to reopen for Junior Secondary School (JSS3) and Senior Secondary School (SS3) students, who are expected to participate in the Junior Secondary School Certificate and the Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations respectively.
But the South West states at the end of a virtual meeting organized by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN Commission), in collaboration with the forum of South-West Education Commissioners, Special Advisers on Education and the State Universal Basic Education Board Chairmen, agreed that schools would reopen for exams with safety precautions.
The communique signed by the Director-General of the Commission, Seye Oyeleye, stated: “The Forum, after careful deliberations, considering peculiarities of each state and options available reached a consensus on the subject matters and are expressed thus: On WAEC examinations; State Commissioners for Education have signified readiness to sit students for the 2019/2020 WAEC examinations.
“At the least, August 3rd, resumption for final year SSS3 students, states should approach the Federal Government at the first instance seeking the postponement of the WAEC exam by at least three weeks from proposed resumption. At the second instance, states should directly approach WAEC to seek an extension of the WAEC Examinations to week commencing August 24.
“All schools, when reopening, should have in place incident managers and classroom wardens for every school and every classroom. The designation of the Quality Assurance Department for each state to issue a Safety Compliance Certificate to each school before reopening.” He stated.
