The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools ( NAPPS) has lamented the continued closure of schools by the Federal Government.
According to them, keeping the schools closed will have more repercussions than the effect of the covid19 pandemic.
They added that some of the school proprietors went bankrupt in 2020 forcing them to put their schools up for sale.
National President of NAPPS, Yomi Otubela told newsmen that the palliatives promised by the Federal Government last year, made no impact.
In his words, “We all heard that UNICEF said a few days ago that schools are not drivers of the pandemic and that keeping the schools locked would do more damage to the society in general than the pandemic we are all fighting.
“I can say unequivocally that schools are better structured to manage their pupils and students.
“In big cities like Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano and other cities, schools come to the rescue of parents by helping them keep their children safe.
“In NAPPS, our members have put all the necessary facilities in place to comply with the directives of the PTF on #COVID19 and the NCDN.”
Yomi Otubela added that “While we appreciate the efforts of the government to keep schools safe, we have done a number of things and we suggest the same for public schools.
“One of which is that there should be strict adherence and enforcement of the safety protocols. Wearing of face masks, use of alcohol-based hand sanitiser, daily reading of body temperature of people, physical distancing.
“Not admitting any sick person into school premises, provision of isolation rooms in every school in the case of anybody falling sick while in school among others.
‘Public schools that have large student population should adopt staggered resumption and lesser number of teaching hours.
To ensure compliance on the part of the schools, the National President of NAPPS suggested that “monitoring teams should go round all schools to ensure compliance and we even want parents to be part of such teams. Their children we take care of are also our children.”
Answering questions on the losses incurred by members of his association as a result of school closure, Otubela responded that “Almost all members ran into financial difficulties. People owing financial institutions and others.
“I can say close to 30% of our members ran bankrupt. Many put up their schools for sale. We are still collating what our members lost.
“What the government promised to assist us with, that is through the Survival Fund has not been forthcoming as expected.
“What some members got is barely able to scratch the surface, we are still waiting.”