Lagos govt condemns opening of private schools, threatens sanctions on recalcitrant schools

The Lagos Government, on Monday, condemned the intentional flouting of rules by some private school owners in the state that have opened their schools to students despite the government’s directives to close schools in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus.

The government made this known in a release by the State Office of Education Quality Assurance (OEQA) on the government’s Twitter handle, condemning the action of some private primary and secondary school owners that invite students to school despite the government’s directives to close schools.

The statement issued by the Office of the Director-General of OEQA, Mrs Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, warned administrators of such schools to desist from reopening schools, adding that any school caught flouting the directive of the Federal and State governments on closure will be sanctioned.

According to her, the Office Monitoring and Investigation team will embark on compliance monitoring exercises across the state to ensure that schools adhere strictly to the safety directives issued by the government as part of efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the state.

She implored schools guilty of disobedience to the law on school closure to stop the trend that could jeopardise the health and future of innocent children, reiterating that the public will be notified when it is right and safe for students to return to school.

Seriki-Ayeni solicited the cooperation of all stakeholders in curbing the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the state and enjoined anyone with information on such recalcitrant schools to contact her office through its official email addresses; info@oeqalagos.com and report@oeqalagos.com.

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