COVID-19: Nigeria Suspends Schools Reopening, Halts WASSCE

Posted by African Examiner African News, Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Wednesday, July 8th, 2020

By Ganiyu Nasirudeen

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Federal Government (FG) has suspended the planned resumption of Federal schools for the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) candidates.

Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, disclosed this Wednesday evening to the State House Correspondents at the end of Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.

Adamu restated that for now, the Federal schools would remain closed until it is safe to reopen them.

In line with the new development, Mallam Adamu advised the State governments that have announced schools resumption or about to resume to shelve the plan.

He asserted that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) could not dictate the resumption date for schools in the country.

He said he would prefer that Nigerian students lose an academic year, than to expose them to health risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It would be recalled that the FG had earlier announced that the schools would reopen August 3 only for students in the final class in another phase of gradual ease of Coronavirus lockdown.

Following the announcement, the WAEC announced that its 2020 examinations would commence August 4 and end September 5, 2020.