From Linus Effiong, Umuahia
Abia State recorded zero COVID-19 case for exit class students/pupils as primary school pupils round off their First School Leaving Certificate exams. The State Commissioner for Education, Associate Professor Kanelechi C.k.Nwangwa broke the cheering news while interacting with newsmen shortly after monitoring the level of COVID-19 precautionary directives compliance by some schools visited in Isiala-Ngwa South and Aba, the commercial nerve center of the state.
Nwangwa said, “The arrangement made really worked. Governor Okezie Ikpeazu was proactive in fumigating schools before the children came back. The governor provided the pallatives for the hand washing stations; hand sanitizers, facemasks and these things are being used.
Recall that the government ordered closure of schools to slow down the spread of COVID-19 when the pandemic hit the country. Some months into the outbreak, secondary/primary schools were reopened to allow students/pupils in exit classes write their examinations. Many state governments including Abia State and school owners also fumigated their schools as a way of disinfecting the school environment and ensuring safe resumption of academic activities.
On schools handed over to some individuals, Organizations and missions, which are not living up to the expectations, the Commissioner for Education reiterated that the government will not hesitate to revoke the hand over of such schools; even as he decried the sorry state of St. Anne’s Secondary School, Amavo-Umuobasi in Isiala-Ngwa South L.G.A, of the state.
His words, “Some of the people that asked us to return schools to them are not doing well. We are certainly going to revisit the handover of such schools that are not living up to expectation with a view to revoking them”.
Schools visited during the tour include: St. Anne’s Secondary School Amavo-Umuobasi in Isiala-Ngwa South L.G.A; Dority International Early Learning School and Brain Tree Model Academy both in Aba, Abia South Senatorial District.
