COVID-19: ASUSS rejects FG plan to reopen schools

The Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, ASUSS, has urged the Federal Government to rethink its decision to reopen schools across the country stressing that the decision was hasty and it would not support the move.

The union insisted the government must take practical steps to safeguard the lives of both the teachers and students before ordering the reopening of schools.

National President of ASUSS, Comrade Samuel Omaji who stated the position of the union on Tuesday, in Makurdi while reacting to the decision of the federal government to reopen schools to allow primary six, JSS3 and SS3 students write their final exams, cautioned that teachers and students would be vulnerable to the virus if schools were reopened without taking adequate measures to protect them from contracting the virus.

According to him, “the decision was probably taken out of pressure but education is not for the dead but for the living, so the federal government should put some visible measures in place to safeguard the lives of the teachers and their students.

“For now we have not seen any proactive steps taken by the government to curb the spread of the virus. If we reopen schools I am afraid we might have a mass spread of the virus in our schools.

“Teachers and students are eager to go back to school but the circumstances are not ideal, we cannot teach and learn under apprehension.  Let’s not turn our schools to incubation centres for the virus. “We also urge the government to put in place life insurance policy for teachers and also ensure that teachers’ salaries are placed on the first-line charge to serve as a morale booster for teachers across the country.

“The government wants teachers back in classes but they have not met with teachers ahead of the reopening to rub minds on what should be done ahead of the reopening. We must not put the cart before the horse if we are serious to contain the virus,” he added. Vanguard