The Federal Government has confirmed the resumption date for schools across the country as Monday, January 18.
The announcement of the resumption date was made following a consensus reached on the issue with State Governors, Commissioners of Education and other sector stakeholders.
The consensus was reached at a meeting between the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu and Commissioners of Education from all the states of federation held in Abuja on Thursday.
The NATION quoted the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, who confirmed the agreement as saying: “We had extensive discussions with state governors, proprietors of schools, labour /staff unions and students’ representatives. And the consensus is that we should reopen all schools immediately on Monday, January 18.
“But the reopening of schools will be in compliance with COVID-19 protocols, especially strict adherence to non-pharmaceutical procedures,” he said.
Widespread speculations have been rife on social media since Wednesday about a pending second lockdown order by the Federal Government this weekend, amid growing fears of a more devastating second wave of COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
Following the speculation, which gained pervasive traction on Thursday, most public and private schools, which had earlier scheduled to reopen this week, began to consider contingent plans to alter their calendar in anticipation of any formal announcement of another lockdown order by the government.
Other sectors of the economy were equally not spared the apprehension over the alleged lockdown, as they began to adjust their plans to avoid being taken unawares by any confirmation of the rumour.
It is however, not clear whether the resumption date also extended to the tertiary institutions, which have been closed down since last year.
The universities and other categories of higher institutions of learning have been on forced closure in the wake of the disagreement between the Federal Government and members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) over their enrolment on the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS).
