The resumption date for primary and secondary school students has become a subject of intense debate on account of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the country. Worried parents, teachers and the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) have been pushing for a long extension of the school holiday, possibly till December or early next year.
The agitation for the postponement of resumption followed reports of the spread of the Ebola Virus beyond Lagos and Port Harcourt, which have since been declared false by Health Minister, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu. The government had earlier fixed the resumption for October 13, but later shifted it to September 22. A further shift of the date was expected yesterday to address the concerns of the NMA, teachers and parents, but the minister, at the end of a Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, said the September 22 date would stand.
Chukwu averred that the Ebola EVD outbreak was being effectively handled in the country, and there was no scientific reason for pupils to be kept at home indefinitely. He said there had been no new cases of EVD in Kaduna, Plateau, Kwara or Oyo states, as rumoured, while no new case was reported this week. He further explained that the treatment wards for Ebola patients in Lagos and Port Harcourt were empty, while the case reported at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, in Osun State, was being treated as a suspected case, and has been quarantined in Lagos. He also confirmed that only 16 people remained under surveillance in Lagos. The situation in Port Harcourt is, however, drearier, as 490 people are still under surveillance, even though there is no one presently down with the infection in the city.
The government’s insistence on schools resumption on September 22 is expectedly generating ripples across the country. The Trade Union Congress (TUC) and the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) have kicked against the resolution, and have demanded a postponement until there is no Ebola case in the country. But for the unfortunate incidence of EVD in the country, Nigerian schools would have reopened on September 15.
The hot debate on schools resumption date is understandable. Children are more vulnerable to infections and it will be difficult to control the spread of Ebola among them, in the event that any child contracts the deadly disease. But, beyond this debate on resumption date is the more important matter of the measures that have been put in place to ensure that Ebola does not get into our schools. How prepared are the schools to check for EVD symptoms among students when they resume? Have all the schools in the affected places acquired the necessary thermometres? Have teachers and school caregivers been trained on what to do in event that a pupil develops symptoms? These, indeed, are assurances that the people need. We agree with the minister that Nigerians should not succumb to irrational fear over the Ebola pandemic, but it would have been reassuring for Nigerians to know that necessary steps have been taken to protect schoolchildren in the affected places.
With the insistence of the Federal Government that no one is currently receiving treatment for Ebola in the country, and its appeal to stakeholders to allow it handle EVD attendant issues in the country, the most important thing to do now is to institute measures to protect schools and the general population.
This should be the primary concern of the government now, and not an unnecessary altercation over resumption date. Luckily, the House of Representatives Committee on Education, through its chairman, Mr. Aminu Suleiman, has said that the matter of the resumption date will be finally resolved next Monday.
Let the legislature and the executive arms of government jointly review the situation and the Ebola containment measures in place.
Government should train relevant personnel in the nation’s schools on how to conduct the temperature tests using hand-held infrared thermometres to discover those with unusually high temperature, and the steps to take in the event that a child is suspected to have the infection.
Although government has been forthcoming with public enlightenment on the disease, there is the need to do more since knowledge about the disease goes a long way in curbing its spread. There is also now a greater need to adequately teach Hygiene in all schools. Above all, let all tiers of government work in concert to contain the deadly disease.
