By Kula Tersoo
Makurdi
Primary school teachers in Benue state yesterday shunned directives that schools should open yesterday.
This is so even as they accused the state government for paying lip service to the prevention of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) as requisite to the schools’ resumption.
However, secondary schools and private schools yesterday resumed for academic session in the state.
In Benue, there was no contrary directive but public primary schools in the state had declined to resume due to what they described as “lackadaisical attitude” of the state government towards taking precautionary measure in the public schools.
The state chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Godwin Anya, told newsmen in Makurdi yesterday that public primary schools in the state had declined to resume until proactive measures were taken against the EVD.
Anya, who said that their position was in line with the directive of the national body of the union, said “we are not resuming until state government provides the necessary measures against EVD as am talking to you now there are no hand sanitizers, gloves, sick bay, thermometer etc in our schools.”
He said: “As of now no teacher has been trained to handle any case of Ebola virus, though we were told that the state is free of Ebola virus but we need to take precautionary measure, we are unlike the private school proprietors who take the issue with kid glove, we are not joking with this at all.”
“The last time I spoke with the Commissioner for Education, Dr Elizabeth Ugoh, she promised that the state government would train our teachers this week; so we are waiting for her, if our teachers are trained today and they provide us with needed tools, we will resume tomorrow.”
A visit by Blueprint to some private and secondary schools yesterday by our correspondent showed impressive turnout in private schools, while there was low turnout of students in public secondary schools.
Efforts made to speak with the Commissioner for Education were not successful as she did not reply to the text message sent to her at the time of filing in this report.