The Oyo State Government has listed the COVID-19 preventive measures for schools as students in primary 6, Junior Secondary School 3 and Senior Secondary School 3 prepare for resumption on July 6.
Making the disclosure in Ibadan, on Wednesday, was the state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Olasunkanmi Olaleye.
Olaleye said school heads, principals and teachers, had been trained on how to monitor and report any sign of illness with symptoms of COVID-19 to the authority.
The commissioner stated that the state had set up emergency operation centres in Ibadan and in the zones adding that incident managers had been appointed for schools.
He explained that the incident managers were expected to report emergencies to the EOCs through special communication lines, stating that each class would have a Warder whose obligation would be to relate with the incident managers.
He said, “Among the measures are the compulsory hand-washing points at the school entrances and at the entrance of each classroom as well as alcohol-based sanitizer for the use of students and teachers.
“Throughout last week, what we have been doing was to train school heads and teachers of public and private schools, preparing them for the task of taking firm control of preventing the spread of COVID-19 into our schools as we resume.
“Each school has been mandated to strictly enforce social distancing and observe other protocols against COVID-19 among teachers and students as laid down by NCDC.
“Students are to come to school with their face masks and follow instructions on the guidelines from the management. These are imperative since the government cannot lock down forever and education is an aspect of life that should not be allowed to suffer backwardness.
“I can boldly tell you that with these measures in place, the children are safer with us in school than even many homes. Imagine situations whereby students are asked to go to private lessons that provide no safety measure.
“Many follow their parents to the market and workplaces where the possibility of contracting the virus is high, so they are rather better kept at school than home.”
