By Chris Otaigbe
The Oyo State Government has cancelled third term for the 2019/2020 school session as promotion of students for all affected classes will now be determined by First and Second Term Continuous Assessments.
Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Olasunkanmi Olaleye, announced the 2020/2021 academic calendar after the State Executive Council meeting in Ibadan on Tuesday.
He said the state government has also approved the academic calendar to guide resumption of schools and other associated educational activities for the 2020/2021 session in the state.
According to the Commissioner, Pry-6, JSS-3 and SSS-3 students will proceed on holiday from July 30 and resume for their examination as would be announced.
According to him, Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) would hold from August 10 to 18, adding, “Competitive Entrance Examination into the Schools of Science will hold on 19th August, while placement/Screening Test to JSS one holds 20th August.
Similarly, the Commissioner said placement Test into Technical Colleges will be conducted on August 28 as the SSS-3 will resume for their examination as soon as WAEC announce the date.
He said the 2020/21 academic session, as approved by the State Council, is “First Term- 21th September to 18th December. Second Term- 11th January to 9th April 2021. Third Term- 3rd May to 30th July 2021.” He announced.
The Commissioner enjoined all stakeholders and members of the public to take note of the details of the academic calendar.
It can be recalled that the Federal Government had cancelled the resumption of schools for graduating classes, three weeks ago.
Announced by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, while speaking to State House Correspondents during the weekly Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, July 8, 2020, the Minister had disclosed the indefinite postponement of the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
This, he said was due to the spread of the coronavirus disease in the country.
Adamu also explained that Nigerian schools will not reopen anytime soon until it is safe to do so.
According to the Minister, he would prefer Nigerian students to lose an academic year than to expose them to dangers.
Recall that the federal government had earlier announced August 5, as scheduled date for the WAEC examination.
Over one week earlier, the Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, had described as insensitive, Oyo State government’s decision to reopen schools from June 29.
It is noteworthy that as two days to Oyo State proposed June 29 reopening, the total Covid-19 cases in the state stood at 1,264 with ten deaths.
He warned that such a decision, if taken, could raise COVID-19 infection figures in the state.
As of 10 pm on Monday, June 22, 2020, Oyo ranked fourth on the table with 621 active cases from the 912 infections figures confirmed in the state by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
Nwajiuba, who said the Federal Ministry of Education did not give out any guideline to the state government to reopen schools, noted that governors have as their primary responsibility to secure the lives of their citizens, in the face of a pandemic.
He added that like all other sub-nationals, governors were under the Constitution of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Stressing why the government cannot reopen schools at this time, the Minister noted that reopening of schools could lead to the exposure of teachers, pupils, drivers, cooks, vendors, their family members and friends to the dreaded virus.
Standing at over 2000 confirmed cases, with over 20 deaths and counting, it is likely that the rampaging storm of the pandemic has convinced the Oyo State government, whose governor, Seyi Makinde, contracted the virus at some point, of the need to apply great caution in reopening Public places, particularly schools.
The decision of the state government to cancel the third term session outright, for the 2020/2021 calendar, may have been prompted by the sentiment to curb the spread of the virus as much as is possible; shutting and managing every public window that may be a probable conduit pipe for the explosion of the pandemic on the state.
