Students of tertiary institutions on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to reopen schools that were shut down as part of efforts to curtail further spread of COVID-19.
They said schools could not remain shut while markets and worship centres had been re-opened.
The students made the call during a peaceful protest in Abuja. The protest was held both at the Unity Fountain and at the Ministry of Education, both in the Federal Capital Territory.
The President of the National Association of University Students, Ejigah Felix, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said schools have been closed for too long. Felix said it was wrong for political campaigns to be allowed while schools remained closed.
He said, “How do you close our universities, polytechnics and other academic institutions and you are telling people that you want to stop the virus?
“Our demands are that our schools should be reopened.
“ASUU strikes have been lingering in this country for so long. Every time that government has an issue with ASUU, it is the students that are at the receiving end. Everybody who is in school for a four-year programme ends up spending six or more years.
“We want the government to find a way of addressing this and stop putting our generation at risk. Students are about wasting one year at home and this is not good for Nigerian students.”
While urging the government to reopen schools, Felix suggested that the same guidelines put in place for the reopening of markets and worship centres as well as the resumption of flights should be put in place in schools.
Copyright: The punch newspaper