By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie/Kolade Adeyemi, Jos/Chris Oji, Enugu/Bisi Oladele, Ibadan/Mike Odiegwu, Port HarcourtUniversity students across the country appear not ready for reopening yet despite Thursday’s advice by the presidential task force on COVID-19 that school administrators should set machinery in motion for resumption of academic work.
ASUU said no concrete steps had been taken by the governments in any of the nation’s public universities to safeguard the health of their members and students from the COVID-19 pandemic should the universities resume as directed by NUC. “While government made arrangements for special bailout funds for airline operators and other private entities, no such arrangement was made for public universities.”
Fagbohun said 400-Level to 600-Level students would have staggered classes between 9 am and 3 pm daily – particularly for students off campus for three months. “And the way we intend to do it for the 300 and 200-Level: on Mondays and Wednesdays, 300-Level students will be on campus. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, 200-Level students will be on campus.
“Our students are already resuming online for 2020/2021 academic session. On Monday, they will start registration online.”The authorities of the institution are considering the first week in October.“But that resumption, I must clarify, is about physical contact. The school has been on throughout the pandemic online. Our graduate finishing programme resumes on Monday. All activities have been going on.
He also said the ongoing national strike by ASUU has not been resolved and even if the universities are reopened, there will be no teaching and learning. An official at the information department of UNN told our correspondent that they were not aware of such plans. Akinwole noted that before COVID-19, public varsities were overcrowded with students while hostel facilities have been taking more than their capacity.
“However, Nigerians should honestly interrogate this position. Has the Nigerian government met the NCDC criteria on COVID-19 protocols in our institutions? Must we endanger the lives of our children for pecuniary gains? Are these agitations not borne out of protecting their business interests? Our position as a responsible union on all this is that throwing schools open in the midst of all this is an open invitation to tragic explosion of the COVID-19 scourge on a scale never witnessed anywhere since its outbreak! When this happens, Nigerians will not say that they were never warned.”The Academic Staff Union of Universities , University of Port Harcourt, expressed doubts over the seriousness of the Federal Government to resume academic activities in universities.