Indication emerged on Friday that the Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board has trained a total of 2, 454 head teachers in the state on COVID-19 preventive measures ahead of schools’ resumption.
The training, Oyo Reporters gathered, was held across all the educational zones in the state between Tuesday, September 8, and Thursday, September 10.
It will be recalled that all schools were shut down in the country in March in the wake of the pandemic.
The Executive Chairman, Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board, Dr. Nureni Adeniran, in an address during the training, said in view of World Health Organisation’s submission that COVID-19 might be with us for some time, the Board in collaboration with Universal Basic Education Commission launched capacity building for primary school teachers as directed by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.
Adeniran said the training complemented the state government’s efforts in containing the spread of COVID-19, noting that the state earlier funded training of school administrators on preventive measures for both primary and secondary school teachers.
He added that “The proactive steps of the Board, through its Learning-on-air programmes, cushioned the impact that COVID-19 otherwise known as SARS-COV-2 might have had on pupils and the primary education sector.”
The training, organised by the Oyo State Emergency Operation Centre focused on school management, safety in the post-COVID lockdown, social distancing and its implications, promoting personal, environmental hygiene and cough etiquette as safeguard against COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases.
Other topics include observing other preventive measures against COVID-19 with the use of face-mask; dealing with the psychological effects of pandemic and lockdown on learner and helping them to overcome the trauma and adjust to the realities of the disease; and identifying and responding to learners showing signs of illness.
training was witnessed by representatives of UBEC, Nigeria Union of Teachers and Association of Primary School Headteachers of Nigeria.
