Northern States govt support cancellation of WAEC by FG

By Muhammed Yakubu On Jul 11, 2020

The Northern States government have expressed support to the federal government stand on reopening of schools and to participate in WASSCE and other examinations only when it is safe to reopen schools and coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Education.

This formed part of the decision in a communique of the 19 Northern States commissioners for education involved in Students Exchange Program, after a virtual meeting on schools reopening and other matters held on Thursday.

The communique signed by Kaduna State Commissioner of Education and Chairman School Exchange Programme Dr Shehu Usman Muhammed said the minister of education’s reasons for keeping schools closed was appropriate in ensuring that children remain safe while efforts were being made to make schools safe from Coronavirus (COVID-19) before reopening will be considered.

According to the communique, there is a need for the minister to coordinate meetings in the education sector to find common ground and agree on the safe reopening of schools.

It said the Federal Government needs to support states in putting safety measures in place for school reopening as parts of its COVID-19 Social Intervention Project, considering that many states may not have the financial strength to embark on such a huge capital extensive project. This could be done with support from development partners or through loans.

Solacebase reports that the meeting had in attendance 13 states namely; Kaduna, Bauchi, Gombe, Niger, Nassarawa, Adamawa, Taraba, Kogi, Kwara, Katsina, Kano, Borno and Jigawa.

The communique noted that the ban of child begging in the name of Almajiri system of education by northern state governors was commendable.

However, States should come up with a legal framework to enforce the ban and carry out a massive awareness campaign to enlighten the public and enlist the support of parents and caregivers, ‘’said the communique.

The meeting agreed that challenges affecting the School Exchange Program should be addressed by various state governments to ensure a high standard of learning in the schools, noting that sports, quiz and debating competition among schools in the region will be reintroduced and other interventions implemented to bring back the lost glory of the students exchange program.

The communique added that schools’ infrastructure, such as dilapidated classrooms, students hostels, source of safe water, sanitary facilities, including handwashing equipment and security should be improved, while clearing of grasses and fumigation of the schools’ surroundings should be conducted to support learning and ensure safety when schools resume.