The Lagos State Education Commissioner, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, has spoken of government’s plans to give palliatives to proprietors of private schools and their teachers.
She spoke of the initiative after monitoring the distribution of food rations to some families under the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, last Friday.
When asked what the government was doing to support private school teachers who have been hard hit by the COVID-19 lockdown of schools, Mrs. Adefisayo told journalists that the government was working out modalities to ensure the palliatives get to the teachers.
She said: “We are working on their palliative. The problem is their diffusion. They are so many; who do we give the palliative for the teachers to? If we give them to the school owners, we must have a method of ensuring that it gets to them. The palliative is for the proprietors and the staff.”
Mrs. Adefisayo did not give a date for the distribution but said it would be soon.
To ensure that public school children do not lose out on e-learning, Mrs. Adefisayo also said the government would distribute about 300,000 radios so they can participate in radio classes run by the Lagos State Ministry of Education.
She noted that the ministry sourced funds from the private sector organisations and individuals to purchase the radios.
“We are distributing radios, maybe from Monday.We have already purchased the radios – people are donating for us – even our staff. So if you too want, you can donate. It is only N2,000 for a radio,” she said.
The commissioner, however, said that the third term would formally begin when the Federal Government directs schools to reopen. She said the government was already preparing modalities for re-opening.
“We want schools to open as soon as possible but we have to watch the pandemic. You see, we should put safety first.
“Everybody is worried because there will definitely be a learning slide when children are at home for long periods.
“The Federal Government who we are looking up to will declare when the third term will start. When they declare it, then we will follow their directive at that point.
“Even if we have been doing part of (the scheme), we are not doing every subject; we are only doing three subjects a day. So when they come back to school, they will just reinforce the learning,” she said.
