Ebola: FCT schools’ll resume tomorrow, says minister

Amid controversy over the reopening of public and private schools across the country due to the outbreak of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Senator Bala Mohammed, has said that schools across the nation’s capital will reopen for the 2014/2015 session on Monday (tomorrow), as directed by the Federal Government. Mohammed also stated that the FCT administration had taken adequate precautionary measures to ensure that children and their teachers are not unwittingly infected by EVD.
The minister’s directive, which was delivered yesterday by the FCT Secretary for Education, Malam Kabiru Yusuf, at the Government Science and Technical College, Area 3, Abuja, said that all schools within the FCT had been fumigated. He stated that tankers had been dispatched to provide water to schools lacking potable water.

Yusuf, who distributed items required to ensure a safe environment for schoolchildren, said the exercise would continue till Monday when schools would open. He said that the FCTA had procured enough materials for distribution to all schools in the capital, noting that the distribution would run till January 2015. Items distributed were hand sanitisers, liquid soap, thermometers, plastic buckets, anti-bacterial liquids, gloves and sensitisation materials.
He also said officials of the FCT Department of Quality Assurance would visit schools tomorrow to monitor the level of compliance in the provision of the items by the private school owners.
He added that school owners are expected to provide the items for their institutions since they charge fees. He gave the assurance to the Nigeria Union of Teachers that the FCT administration was ready to resume for academic activities in all its schools, adding that they should not discourage parents from taking their children to school on Monday.
He also called on parents and guardians not to harbour any fear. “I call on all parents and guardians of FCT pupils and students who are understandably still apprehensive to harbour no fears. Their children and wards are completely safe and schools will open as scheduled on Monday September 22, 2014” he said.
He however directed heads of schools not to admit any pupil or student with signs of malaria even as he enjoined parents to ensure that their children are treated of any ailment before the resumption date. He also said the training of teachers in the handling of any suspected case of Ebola in any school had been concluded. NUT Chairman FCT Chapter, Comrade Al-Hassan Jibril, expressed satisfaction at the procurement of the materials and cautioned that efforts should be made to ensure that all schools get the items.
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