Uncomfortable with the Federal Government’s declaration that Nigerian candidates will not participate in WASSCE over COVID-19 safety concerns, the six Southwest states have agreed to reopen schools for SS3 students to write the examination next month.
The states are Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Ondo, Osun and Ekiti.
The decision to reopen schools was reached at a virtual meeting by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission, Commissioners, Special Advisers on Education and SUBEB chairmen.
PerSecondnews recalls that 19 Northern states met during the week to endorse the Federal Government’s decision to suspend school reopening for SS3 students due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
DAWN Commission indicated that the states will reopen schools for SS3 students by August 3 with COVID-19 protocol and measures in place, a statement said.
The states plan to approach the Federal Government to ask for the postponement of WASSCE by at least three weeks from the proposed resumption date.
Alternatively, the states are to directly approach WAEC for postponement of the examination till August 24.
It was agreed that schools will appoint incident managers and classroom wardens.
There will also be designation of quality assurance department for each state to issue a safety compliance certificate to each school before reopening.
The state will also encourage intensive advocacy campaigns to stakeholders including parents, teachers, caregivers, school owners and pupils on what is expected of them when schools reopen.
The meeting also called on the WAEC to encourage Computer-Based Tests (CBT) in future.
Among others the virtual meeting agreed that the Southwest states will implement 2016 plan to establish a regional examination body similar to IJMB in the North.
The plan was laid out at the roundtable on creating a collaborative framework for education development and advancement in Western Nigeria in Osogbo, the Osun State capital in 2016.
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