Education: Nigeria Partially Reopens Schools for Last-Year Exit Exams

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:35 pm

School Bells are Ringing Again

Back to class, for last-year Nigerian students as the Federal Ministry of Education declared the partial opening of secondary-schools across the country from August 4th. The decision comes after a 5-month suspension in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and all schools are to adhere to strict sanitary regulations.

Abigail Sokenu, a final-year secondary student, shared her glee, “I’m very very happy. You know, we’ve been home for long, for over five months now. And we should have been done with the exams since April. Because of the whole pandemic, we weren’t able to write so now I’m so happy that we are back.”

The pandemic is not over but life must go on

Students will have two weeks in class to prepare for the graduation assessments and must wear masks, respect social distancing guidelines and make use of the hand sanitiser dispensers and water fountains for handwashing to limit virus infections.

The COVID-19 Situation

Nigeria has 40,532 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 858 deaths and 17,374 recoveries, thus far.

The government eased virus restrictions on June 30 by permitting inter-state travel. Domestic flights resumed a week later and it allowed places of worship to reopen last month at only 50% capacity – and with the government strongly suggesting that the elderly stay home.