The Lagos State Government has sealed 10 private schools found to have flouted the closure directives of the Federal and State governments occasioned by the outbreak of ravaging COVID-19 pandemic and aimed to ensure the safety of students.
The Director-General, DG, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State, Mrs Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, disclosed this on Friday.
Seriki-Ayeni had led the Monitoring and Investigation team of the office, disclosed this during the second and third phase of the massive monitoring of private schools compliance to the directive to curb the spread of the pandemic in the country and the world at large.
According to her, a large number of private schools visited across the state were found to have complied while the non-compliant schools were sealed. The DG did not, however, mention the names and locations of the defaulting schools.
The exercise, she added, would be continuous and encompassing, cutting across all the education districts in the state to discourage the nonchalant attitude of some schools to the directive.
“No doubt, COVID-19 has had negative effects on our schools but we want students to come out stronger and better. We want to make sure schools are closed; we also want to make sure schools are adhering to the closure directive since the number of COVID-19 infection cases has increased dramatically over time.
“On the field, we want to stay put to what we know is true and we want to consistently do it to students and school-based staff.” The Director-General, who earlier warned of the danger inherent in the exposure and clustering of students in a class in the name of lesson strictly reiterated that any school found operating, while trying to beat government scrutiny without concern for the health and safety of pupils would be sealed.
While admonishing parents and school owners, Mrs Abiola Seriki-Ayeni urged them to abide by the directive of the state government to stay safe and healthy by promoting washing of hands with soap, wearing of mask in public places and using alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
“This is a unique time in the entire world, therefore, it is only the living that learns.” She also urged them to embrace the norm of online schooling and advised parents not to be found guilty for exposing the lives of their children to danger.
She encouraged school owners to begin the process of thinking through the opportunities that exist at the present time to up-skill their staff through online virtual training and webinar.
“This is the time to think and plan strategically to form good partnerships with government in order to get resources for your schools” she urged parents.
