Public schools still not primed for reopening — ASUU insists

THE Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) says that neither the federal nor the various state governments have put anything in place to suggest that the protocols they reel out as control measures against COVID-19 will be implemented in their own schools.

Professor ‘Biodun Ogunyemi, the president of the union, said in an exclusive interview with Tribune Education that it is not enough for government to reel out guidelines and protocols as conditions for reopening schools without doing anything to meet those conditions in their own schools.

Ogunyemi said there is, to date, no aspect of the safe school reopening guidelines that government at the federal and state levels have implemented in their own schools, especially the universities.

He said ASUU has monitoring teams across the country, and can confirm that nothing is going on in public institutions to suggest that government is serious about safe reopening of schools.

This, he said, is unlike in the aviation industry where government officials have inspected the airports and ensured that guidelines and protocols are in place and are being observed.

He wondered how many personal protective items such as hand washing facilities, nose masks, sanitizers, among others, government has provided for in its schools, let alone visiting those schools to ensure and monitor compliance with protocols.

This, the ASUU leader said, is an indication that governments has continued to pay lip service to the education sector.

He said ASUU has never been against government reopening schools but has always been concerned about the level of precautionary measures put in put in place in public schools to warrant such reopening.

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