The south west states will allow secondary schools to open in the region this August to enable students write the forthcoming West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The agreement was reached after a virtual meeting involving states’ commissioners for education and special advisers on education and State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) Commission secretaries on Wednesday. The meeting was put together by Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission.
The representatives also agreed on the need for south-west states to implement a 2016 plan to establish a regional examination body similar to the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) in the north.
DAWN in a statement said the south-west states will reopen schools for SS3 pupils on August 3 with COVID-19 preventive measures put in place. The body also announced that the states will approach the federal government to seek a postponement of the WASSCE by at least three weeks from the proposed resumption date.
There are also plans to approach WAEC to seek a postponement of the examination to the week beginning August 24.
The schools on resumption are expected to appoint incident managers and classroom wardens while there will also be a designation of quality assurance department for each state to issue a safety compliance certificate to each of the schools before reopening.
They also added that each state will encourage intensive advocacy campaigns to stakeholders, including parents, teachers, caregivers, school owners and pupils on what is expected of them when schools reopen.
The body also encouraged WAEC to consider Computer-Based Tests (CBT) in the future.
The federal government had earlier reversed its decision to reopen schools by August. It also withdrew students of Unity Schools from writing the WASSCE scheduled for August 5 and September 5.
