After more than seven months of close down due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic, Lagos schools have been asked to resume on 21st September.
The resumption date was announced by the Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor, Jubril Gawat, via his official twitter handle on Sunday, 13th September 2020. While some parents may not be pleased with this development, others are glad that their children will be resuming back to school.
The fear of COVID-19 is the beginning of wisdom and that is why good preparation will go a long way to enhance the effectiveness of precautionary measures put in place by the state government. Therefore, parents and school authorities have to put all in place to ensure the proper management of kids. The fact remains that children will always be children, hence going back to school to some might just be an avenue to reach back to friends they haven’t seen in a long while, forgetting that one of the precautionary measures of COVID 19 is social distancing.
As parents hope for their kids to be safe, education is also key. A quality improvement manager, Chibuke Aigbe, during her discussion with the Wake-up Nigeria crew gave insight on safe measures as schools reopen. She gave a structured Guideline on “COVID 19 back to school safety tips – PARENTS ROLES FOR PROPER PREPARATION”.
First, parents have to educate their kids on safety measures, no matter their age levels.
“No matter how old your toddlers are, pupils in primary schools, students in secondary schools and Universities, they especially need good information. They should be aware of the disease and how to take measures.Secondly, Parents should teach kids on how to use the face mask. You can as well label your child’s face mask so that friends don’t mistakenly take them.”
FOR SCHOOL AUTHORITIES, Chibuke Aigbe outlined as follows: Schools are expected to make available temperature check at the entrance before access into the premises. Each Class should have a specific time of resumption or a specific day off school so as to maintain a particular number of students available in class at the same time. Schools should provide a sickbay as well as an ambulance, in case of an emergency, or suspected COVID-19 cases. Schools should be able to locate a quick center for testing COVID-19.
