'Closing Schools Does Not Make Sense' - Health Minister

It "doesn’t simply make any sense" to keep primary and secondary schools in the country closed, says Nigeria's Minister of Education, Onyebuchi Chukwu.

Chukwu's comment is coming at a time when many, including the House of Representatives, are raising concerns over the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).

The minister opined that there is no reason why schools should not resume on September 22 as earlier rescheduled, NAN reports.

“So, I want to make it clear that from the technical point of view, there is absolutely no reason why any school, except if they have other problems that are not medical, cannot reopen,’’ Chukwu said.

“You notice that Nigeria has not closed any market, church, mosque and children follow their parents to these places.

“So it doesn’t simply make any sense yet to continue shutting down the schools."

He added that re-opening schools on schedule would present an opportunity to teach the children about the Ebola virus disease and also activate what the teachers have been trained on.

“It will even give us opportunity to teach the children what EVD is all about.

“It is going to offer us opportunity to reinforce what we are already teaching their teachers because the teachers are going through programmes on how they should handle children who are sick."

He revealed that there is no existing Ebola case at the moment, even though the Ministry remains prepared to tackle any case.

“We know now that there is no place in Nigeria now that we are treating anyone for EVD, but we have not started celebrating yet for the simple reason that we have not yet won the war.

“We do not want surprises.

“No one for now has active EVD in Nigeria, but that is not to say that will be surprised if we have one tomorrow,’’ Chukwu said.

It will be recalled that the House of Representatives last Tuesday tasked its Committee on Education to review the resumption date for private and public primary/secondary schools in the country.