Resumption Of Schools: Ukah Decries Low Turnout Of Students In Rural Areas

Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Patrick Ukah, has called on traditional rulers, religious leaders, parents and other stakeholders to appeal to pupils and students in rural areas of the state to resume academic activities for second term of the 2020/2021 academic session.

Mr Ukah, who stated this while monitoring the level of compliance of the resumption directive by pupils and students in some schools in the state, said that the second term academic calendar has been affected by the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic expressing concern that students now have less weeks for academic work.

He wondered how parents and guardians can leave their children at home instead of ensuring that they resume academic activities and appealed to all concerned to ensure that their children go back to school immediately.

The Basic and Secondary Education Commissioner clarified that it is only schools with large population of students that should run morning and afternoon shifts, stressing that schools with enough classrooms to accommodate all the students with not more than 30 students per class should revert to only morning session immediately.

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Mr. Ukah stressed the need for teachers to work in synergy with their heads for the realisation of effective coordination of the children, and urged them to ensure effective teaching and learning as well as educate the children on the need to observe all COVID-19 protocols by wearing their facemask, just as he identified the importance of team work for the successful delivery of their objectives.

Mr. Ukah, who was accompanied on the monitoring by the new Director of Schools, Mrs. Clementina Ojumah, called on stakeholders in various communities to protect school facilities and prevail on their children to avoid destroying them for whatever reasons.

The Basic and Secondary Education Commissioner called on the school-based management committee to interface with Parents’ Teachers’ Associations (PTAs) as a deliberate approach to safeguarding school facilities, and enjoined parents seeking for admission for their children not do so when second term had commenced.

Schools visited included Unity Secondary School in the State capital territory, Oluchi Comprehensive Secondary School, Okpanam, New Era Primary School, Okpanam, both in Oshimili North Local Government Area, Ime-Obi Secondary School, Agbor, Omumu Primary School, Omumu Agbor, Omumu Mixed Secondary School, Omumu Agbor and Igumbor-Otiku Secondary School, Agbor, all in Ika South Local Government Area.