All 104 Unity Schools Ready For Reopening Aug. 4

The Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, has said that the nation’s 104 unity schools are ready to reopen their gates to the final-year class.

He stated this during an online meeting with the 36 State Commissioners of Education, according to a Monday statement by the Director of Press and Public Relations in the Federal Ministry of Education, Ben Bem Goong.

Nwajiuba said that the unity schools were poised to reopen to the final-year class on Tuesday, August 4.

However, he said that the ministry would embark on a tour of the unity schools in the country to assess the level of preparedness of the various institutions.

“Ahead of August 4 2020, the Minister of State for Education, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba has announced that all the 104 Unity Colleges are ready to open their gates to exit classes tomorrow.

“Announcing the preparedness of the Unity Colleges at a meeting with Honourable Commissioners of Education of the 36 States of the Federation this (Monday) morning via the Zoom platform, the Minister lauded Principals of Unity Colleges for the comprehensive preparation put in place for resumption.

“Across states, Honourable Commissioners reported varying degrees of preparation and readiness for reopening between August 4 and 10 for virtually all schools within their jurisdictions.

“From today (Monday), the Honourable Minister of State for Education, Permanent Secretary and Directors will embark on an assessment tour of all Unity Colleges to ascertain and confirm the reports they have received from the Principals of Unity Colleges.

“Similarly, Federal Education Quality Assurance Directors deployed to the States have been directed to monitor compliance in their respective states. Honourable Commissioners from the States were enjoined to embark on assessment tours in their jurisdictions to ascertain the level of preparations for reopening.

“While most schools will reopen tomorrow (Tuesday), others will continue to fine-tune their preparations in the coming days for reopening. Education Minister, Hon. Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, is asking all schools to communicate their specific reopening dates to their parents and students in order to avoid chaos in the system.

“All returning students are to undergo temperature checks among other protocols before being admitted into their schools,” the statement read.

The update comes after the education ministry’s July 27 announcement that exiting classes of secondary schools would resume on August 4th to enable them to prepare for their final examinations.

Recall that schools had been shut in March 2020 days after the nation recorded its index case of COVID-19 on February 27.