The re-opening of schools in Nigeria is the talk of the town as a lot of people want to know when students and undergrads can go back to school.

Schools have been on lockdown since the breakout of COVID-19 in Nigeria a couple of months ago. Now, with businesses opening up, parents and students are curious to know when schools will be open.

There is no clear indication from the Federal Government when this will happen but here are 3 reasons why schools should not reopen and 2 reasons why it should.

Why Schools Should Not Reopen

1)Nigeria Yet To Hit Second Wave – Nigeria is yet to experience a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are fears that when schools and campuses reopen, there will be a surge in coronavirus infections which will lead to a second spike and strain our already over burdened healthcare system.

2) When Will Schools Be Sanitized – The Federal Government has hinted on plans to sanitize schools nationwide before the re-opening. While the FG made this know early this month, a concrete timeline hasn’t been revealed. Also, the logistics behind this would take months of planning so as to cover all the schools in the country. Until this is done, it would be dangerous to open schools now.



Why Schools Should Reopen

1) Many schools don’t have facilities for E-learning – Schools abroad have adapted to live in lockdown by activating remote learning and E-learning facilities for its students. While some schools in Nigeria are doing this, most schools in Nigeria cannot provide E-learning facilities on a large scale. The Nigerian educational system is not up to par with that of the western world. The viable option now is to reopen schools.

2) Scatters Nigeria’s School Timetable – With students at home for months now, Nigeria’s educational timetable for 2020 is already a mess. Many students are being left by their counterparts abroad. And in public tertiary institutions where strikes have played a huge part in messing up the educational calendar, the COVID-19 lockdown is only doing more damage than good.