The Enugu State Government on Thursday promised to provide Ebola Virus
Disease test kits in public schools ahead of the Sept. 22 resumption.
The state Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uchechukwu Okoro,
announced this in Enugu during a capacity building workshop on EVD for
teachers in the state.
He said government would also provide hand washing facilities and
thermometres in public schools in the state.
The commissioner said the teachers needed to be equipped with the
technical knowledge in order to be in a position to handle emergency
cases.
Okoro directed the teachers to ignore the strike action as directed by
the Nigeria Union of Teachers, warning that any teacher that failed to
resume classes would risk his or her job.
"There is no strike in Enugu State and teachers that refuse to report
to classes will be on their own because they will not be with us,"
Okoro said.
The UNICEF Education Specialist in Enugu, Dr Agatha Nzeribe, in a
presentation said children had the right to education even during
emergencies.
She said, "Education during emergencies is a fundamental right of
children and when properly implanted, they will recover.
"The children should have opportunities to develop optimally, but when
we leave them they will miss out at a critical period of their lives."
Nzeribe said special attention needed to be given to children with
disabilities in emergency situations.
She called for the establishment of essential communal services around
public schools to enable students benefit from such services.
Nzeribe said UNICEF would continue to partner with the state
government to ensure that school children were adequately catered for.
Some of the participants at the workshop, including Mr Pius Agu and
Mrs Rose Ugwu, said the training had given them more insight in
handling the disease.
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