Delta Education Ministry gives guidelines for reopening of lesson centres

Delta State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education has charged all operators of lesson centres across the state to adhere strictly to the released guidelines in order to guarantee their continued operations.

The Commissioner in charge of the ministry, Mr. Patrick Ukah, in a statement issued in Asaba yesterday (18/3/21), said that the temporary closure was geared towards carrying out effective regularisation of their activities and ensure sanity.

Ukah, who enumerated the guidelines for the reopening of the centres to include: readiness of operators to ensure that only candidates for Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB)/IJMB examinations attend the lessons during the morning sessions between the hours of 9am-1pm Mondays to Saturdays, enrollment at the lesson centres must be based on their carrying capacities, adherence to COVID-19 protocols and the use of appropriate curriculum in teaching and learning at the centres, among others.

He emphasised that Senior School Certificate lessons should be strictly evening based between the hours of 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. except on Saturdays and Sundays, adding that the operators of the lesson centres must furnish the ministry with their full identities and profiles.

The Basic and Secondary Education Commissioner enjoined operators of the centres to visit the Inspectorate Department of the Ministry with effect from today, March 19, 2021 to collect forms and apply for recognition in order to qualify them for reopening.

According to him, any lesson centre that needed to run as private school should accordingly apply to the ministry for appropriate actions and registration.

Ukah noted that the ministry was very much aware of the importance of the operations of the lesson centres in the overall growth of the education sector in the state. He said that the enforcement of the temporary closure was not aimed at witch-hunting the operators but in response to public outcry over the activities in some of the centres.