The Ogun State Government has shed more light and listed the guidelines for operations of boarding facilities in Secondary schools in the State.

Recall that Eons Intelligence, on July 31st, 2020 reported that Governor Dapo Abiodun announced that exit students in private and public schools would resume from August 4th, 2020.

This was announced in a press release signed on Sunday, August 2nd, 2020, by the Special Adviser to the Governor in Primary and Secondary School Education, Mrs Ronke Soyombo.

She said the guidelines and requirements were jointly developed and agreed by parents, private school owners, Government representatives, and other stakeholders.

Soyombo revealed that Ogun State has the highest number of schools operating boarding facilities in the country with students' population drawn from far and wide.

She had earlier announced on Saturday, August 1st, 2020, that returning exit students would take COVID-19 tests as part of the protocols emplaced by the Ogun State Government t curb the spread of the virus.

The Governor's aide said the guidelines are important to avoid and prevent community transmission of the COVID-19 pandemic amongst students in the boarding facilities and invariably the state as a whole.

The Special Adviser stated that the COVID-19 test for boarding students is just one of the measures agreed upon.

The guidelines announced include;

• The government will bear the full costs of the COVID-19 Test for all the boarding SS3 students in the State-owned public schools.

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• All private school owners are also expected to ensure that all their boarding students are certified COVID-19 test negative before being admitted into their boarding facilities.

• To further assist the private schools, Ogun State Government has negotiated a huge discount in the cost of COVID-19 Test with some healthcare service providers.

• However, private school owners and parents are free to engage any other service provider of their choice provided that the service provider is certified by NCDC as COVID-19 Test service provider.

• Indeed, Certificate of negative COVID-19 Test from other locations across the country will be tenable provided, as usual, it is from an NCDC certified centre and the test has been performed within 72 hours of the date of resumption.

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• Only boarding facilities directly operated by schools will be allowed to operate to enable government monitoring of such facilities for compliance with COVID-19 protocols.

• Parents and school owners are enjoined to work together to ensure that health and safety of our students is of paramount consideration at all times. Should any private school owner and parents desire a waiver of COVID-19 Test requirement for boarding students, a joint representation of the school owner and the parents should be made to the government and this shall be considered on a case-by-case basis.  

The Special Adviser also said in the statement that the Ogun State Government has also commenced the distribution of facemasks to all schools in Ogun State - Public and Private, for the use of returning SS3 students and their teachers.

She added that the Government would not stop in its responsibility of protecting citizens and residents of Ogun State, and these include Private and Public School students.

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