On Monday, October 19, 2020, the head of Public Affairs, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Kayode Abayomi, has said the state may ask students to “stay at home for now” over the ongoing #EndSARS protests across the country.
This is as academic activities were affected in some schools in the state as protests against police brutality and bad governance continue.
Abayomi said that the Ministry of Education is awaiting a directive from the governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, to order the schools’ closure.
He said, “We are considering the option of asking the students to stay at home, for now, pending when the protests will be over.
“It is at the consideration level. We are waiting for the governor’s directive in that aspect. As soon as we get the directive to go ahead, we can then ask them to stay at home for now.”
In a correlated event, the ongoing #EndSARS protest has forced the National Examinations Council, (NECO), to reschedule the Paper I Computer Studies Practical for the senior secondary certificate. The paper, which was earlier scheduled to take place on Monday (today), has now been postponed to November 16.
Azeez Sani, head, Information and Public Relations Division of NECO, disclosed the postponement in a statement made available to journalists on Sunday.
“This unforeseen incident has been caused by the #ENDSARS protest that blocked the free movement of transport at the city entrance gate Benin. The NECO delivery truck had left its take-off point well in advance on Friday, October 16, 2020, earlier to deliver examination materials to some states and has been held up in the blockage since then,” the statement read.
“The council wishes to assure all stakeholders and the general public that the affected examination materials have been retrieved and are intact.
“While regretting any inconveniences this rescheduling may cause our esteemed stakeholders, the Council has however taken this decision to maintain the integrity and security of its examinations procedures for seamless conduct of the Council’s examination.”
