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Our stand on schools closure by undergraduates

By Olumide Ologbosere and Bukola Owolabi
26 March 2020   |   1:46 am
In a bid to preserve lives and curtail the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the National Universities Commission (NUC) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) had directed the nation’s tertiary institutions to shut down while students should go home.

Call for sensitisation and provision of adequate facilities

In a bid to preserve lives and curtail the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the National Universities Commission (NUC) and National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) had directed the nation’s tertiary institutions to shut down while students should go home. The Federal Government preventive measure has elicited mixed reactions from Nigerian students nationwide as some undergraduates lauded the action while others described it as a wild goose chase.

The National Association of Polytechnic Student (NAPS) Director of Programmes, Joseph Temitope while speaking with The Guardian said ‘’I would make reference to the words of the First lady who wondered why schools are closed while parents are allowed to go to work or market, as those parents are coming back home to meet their wards and families, definitely they may be infected. “While I’m not against the closure of schools, such would amount to a waste if the public places like market and shopping malls are not also shut down. Like today in Abuja, I was at a shopping mall and the crowd totally forgot the social distancing, the masks were not been used and all the preventive measures were not been taken cognisance of, I believe sensitisation and provision of adequate facilities to the citizens would have been better’’. He said.

The president, Nigeria Association of Computer Science Students (NACOSS) Comrade Michael said ‘’The Federal Government’s decision to close schools is a good idea, it would be disastrous to leave students in the midst of this deadly virus, though it will have adverse effects on students but it’s a great advantage for smart students to read and prepare more for examinations.

Eletu Mariam a student from Lagos State University (LASU) said, ‘’Closure of schools is effective as it reduces large spread of the virus, only washing of hand is not enough to prevent one from contacting it, the best is to give two meters away from the person and this cannot be achieved in a classroom where sits are not even enough to study. Another student from Ekiti State University (EKSU), Opeyemi Peters said ‘’The Federal Government’s decision to close schools is a nice idea, it is for the interest of ourselves, and for me it has a positive effect in the sense that it gives me the chance to source for my school fees because they have started disturbing us that no school fees, no class and no submission of assignment.

For Chiamaka Esther from Oko Federal Polytechnic ‘’The closure of school is not the best, at least we take public transport and go to the market everyday, I think sensitisation would have been the best precautionary method to prevent the spread of COVID-19, enough preventive kits should be distributed to citizens, while hand washing spots should be put in some strategic places in our community.

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