Some states in the Niger Delta region said on Wednesday that adequate preparations had been put in place to check Ebola Virus Disease spread ahead of schools resumption on September 22.
A survey conducted by the News Agency of Nigeria in some of the states showed that stakeholders such as the Nigeria Union of Teachers, parents and the Nigerian Medical Association are insisting that state governments should provide needed materials to check the spread of the virus.
State governments on their part have been carrying out sensitisation and awareness campaigns for teachers and health workers on how to prevent EVD and measures to take if there are reported cases.
In Rivers State, the government and UNICEF conducted training for 5,000 teachers in private and public schools on Ebola prevention.
The Commissioner for Education, Alice Nemi, said government would shut down schools without pipe borne water.
Nemi told the teachers that the aim was to ensure that students and pupils washed their hands with soap and maintained good hygiene in schools.
The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Ibim Semenitari, however, said that no decision had been taken on the September 22 resumption date given by the Federal Government.
The Chairman of of the NUT, Chief Godfrey Nwogu, said the union would comply with the directive of its national body on the resumption date.
However, Bright Amaewhule, the proprietor of Nobles school in Port Harcourt, said the school would resume on September 22.
Amaewhule said: “We will comply with the directive of the Federal Government because the state government had already trained teachers on the virus and how to check it.
“Private school proprietors like ours have also bought infrared thermometer to check the temperature of pupils and students in our schools.
“We have pipe borne water with soaps and even a medical team to ensure that our students are protected at all times.”
The principal of a government secondary school, who sought anonymous, said the school would wait for the state government to give the go ahead before re-opening schools.
He said: “Our school, like others is owned by the state government and we have to comply with their instruction.
“But, we want government to assist some of its owned schools to repair our boreholes to ensure adequate water supply for the students.”
The Bayelsa State Government on its part said it would comply with the September 22 resumption date given by the Federal Government.
The Commissioner for Education, Sola Adikumo, said in Yenagoa on Wednesday that government was making all arrangements to ensure that teachers, pupils and students in the state were protected against the virus.
Ogola Brandla, the NUT Chairman in Bayelsa State, told NAN that the union was satisfied with the September 22 date.
Brandla urged the federal and state governments to provide medical facilities to assist teachers check the spread of the virus in schools.
He said: “The union in the state is happy with the new date and I believe the Federal Government is still working hard to combat the outbreak of Ebola virus in the country.
“I must tell you, the issue of Ebola virus is not something that you and I can talk about.
“The new date is okay and the children can now go back to school.
“The earlier postponement is because the government did not want Ebola virus to attack the children.”
Ebimowei Jude, a parent, said the resumption date was good and a step in the right direction.
Jude urged the government to assist schools with necessary health facilities to check the spread of the virus.
In Cross River State, the government said it had started mass sensitisation of the critical stakeholders in the school system on the EVD ahead of school resumption date on September 22.
The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Offiong Offiong, told NAN on Wednesday in Calabar that the state had been divided into six centres for the exercise.
Offiong said that the training, which began two weeks ago, involved school principals, head teachers, teachers, administrators and Parents Teachers Association members.
Offiong warned all principals and teachers in the state to participate in the training or face sanctions.
One of the stakeholders, Marty Eteng, told NAN that the training in Calabar zone had been completed.
“Right now, we are in Ikom center,” Eteng said.
A member of the PTA in Government Secondary School, Ikot-Ansa, Calabar, Gerald Ada, said that he was satisfied with the sensitisation.
In Delta State, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, said that government would do the needful to ensure that schools in the state reopened on September 22.
Uduaghan said this during an enlarged security meeting, which included the state ministry of health.
He said that Federal Government had told the nation that the country was currently free from EVD.
The governor said that the government had set up an EVD response committee charged with the monitoring and control of the disease, adding that special health centres had been designed for victims.
Uduaghan said that the state government, through its Ministry of Health, had embarked on the training of medical personnel and sensitisation of the teachers toward the reopening of schools.
According to the governor, schools in the state will resume on September 22 and measures had been put in place to sensitise teachers to handle any Ebola outbreak.
Jonathan Jemirieyigbe, the Delta State Chairman of the NUT, said the union was aligning itself with the directives of the national body on the issue.
Jemirieyigbe said that the union wants the state government to provide water, soap and detergent, sanitiser and the infrared thermometer to check the temperature of students.
He said that though the state government had trained two teachers in each of the state owned primary and secondary schools, the trainees needed time to train others.
“The NUT is not running away from its official responsibility and the state chapter of the union will not compromise the stand of the national,” Jemirieyigbe said.
Some parents who spoke to NAN said that in line with the government directives, they were prepared to allow their children go back to school.
Chijindu Ugbaja, a parent, urged government to take the awareness campaign to schools to ensure that teachers, pupils and students were not affected by the virus.
Another parent, Magnus Okpala, said that there was no fear of Ebola and advised that people should not create impression that there was EVD in the state.
NAN reports that the Delta State had trained a total of 3,352 teachers, two each from the 1,206 public primary and 470 secondary schools in the state, on the EVD preventive measures in preparation for schools resumption.
In Edo State, the state chapters of NUT and NMA called on government to put adequate facilities in schools to curtail EVD before schools re-open.
The Chairman of Edo State NMA, Prof. Afekaide Omoti, and Chairman of the Edo State NUT, Mike Uhunmwangho, made the call in separate interviews with NAN in Benin on Wednesday.
According to Omoti: “Ordinarily, if we feel that the issue of Ebola is not over, then we will be scared to say that schools should reopen because one case happening in one secondary or primary school can be disastrous.
“But, if teachers are trained to screen the students and pupils for signs of EVD, to be able to identify people with the diseases in time and prevent them from entering the schools, and then the hygienic condition of the schools are improved with good running water, then of course, it is possible for schools to reopen.
“But the question is that are the schools ready to screen students and pupils.
“What the doctors are saying is that the country must be ready to screen and identify cases early before you say schools should reopen on the one hand.
“Then we should be absolutely sure that there is no Ebola case in the country.
“Then we can say reopen schools.
“In the current state where we are not 100 per cent sure that there is no Ebola case, we are saying schools can reopen only if the schools are prepared to screen children returning back to school for signs and symptoms of Ebola virus.”
Uhunmwangho said: “We are supporting the decision of our national body.
“Until things are put in place, the screening facilities should be put in place school by school.
“At least we should have preventive measures in the school system before schools should reopen.”
The Edo State Government has not announced any resumption date for schools in the state.
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