COVID-19: Polytechnic students call for reopening of schools

By OLUBUNMI OSOTEKU, Ibadan

Polytechnic students from across the country, under the aegis of the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS), have called on the Nigerian government to consider reopening tertiary institutions across the country.

The students, who staged a peaceful protest in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, noted that the government must take decisive actions that would facilitate the re-opening of schools and allow academic activities to resume.

The protesting students alleged the insensitivity of the country’s leadership to the plight of students and the education sector as a whole by the continuous closure of the institutions of learning, saying the government must do more in the interest of the students, to ensure resumption of academic activities.

The protesters, bearing placards with various inscriptions, urged stakeholders to review government’s position on the issue, in order to save education in the country from the brink of collapse.

They argued that with the re-opening of markets and worship centers, there was also the need to consider the reopening of schools soon.

The National President of NAPS, Olalere Adetunji and the Students Union President, Federal Cooperative College, Eleyele, Ibadan, Ilesanmi Moses, both said the leadership decided not to continue to keep mute on an issue that was badly affecting students across the country.

Adetunji noted; “We cannot continue to keep mute in the face of bad policy, most especially when it has to do with education. Covid-19 has come to stay; whether we agree or not, there is going to be a cure to it like malaria.

“All we need from the Federal Government is to come out with a specific date for schools’ re-opening. The Federal Government has given guidelines on schools re-opening and everybody is ready to adhere strictly with the guidelines,” he stated.

The Federal Government had ordered the closure of schools in the country in the wake of the outbreak of the novel Coronavirus pandemic which has claimed thousands of lives across the globe. (VON)