COVID-19: Don’t reopen schools now, NUT warns

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has advised federal and state governments against “hasty” reopening of schools, cautioning that the lives of teachers and their pupils should be seriously considered before such action is taken.

Principal Assistant Secretary of the Union in Niger state, Comrade Labaran Garba, gave the advice in Minna at the weekend after conducting newsmen round the ultra modern Niger state secretariat of the organisation.

He said, “We should not rush into reopening of schools so as not to draw pupils into the pandemic. Teachers are more prone to contacting the disease because they are closer to the pupils. They are the first to meet the pupils. In the event of either a pupil or teacher contacting the virus, it will easily spread.”

He said the union has submitted a memorandum to the Niger state government on steps to take before reopening of schools.

He urged government to critically look into the submission to organise a “critical stakeholders meeting” and fashion out the best approach that will lead to the reopening of schools.

Garba also asked the government to consider teachers in the sharing of palliatives when the schools reopen.

He stated that N150m had been spent on the construction and furnishing of ultra modern secretariat, saying the funding of the project was purely from union dues.

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