Lagos releases 2020/2021 academic calendar
Lagos State government through the Office of Education Quality Assurance has released the approved school calendar for year 2020/2021 session.
According to the time table, both public and private schools below tertiary level would resume first term academic activities on Monday 21st September, 2020 while the term runs through Friday, December 18, 2020. The second term will commence from Monday January 4, 2021 and runs through Friday April 6, 2021 while students will resume for third term on Tuesday, May 4, 2021 and close on Friday, August 6, 2021.
While enjoining all public and private schools in the state to adhere strictly to the harmonised school calendar, the director-general, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Abiola Seriki-ayeni, urged school leaders to have a qualitative health and safety plan that will help protect students, teachers and workers as schools reopen in the state.
According to her, “it is not enough to reopen but to keep staying opened since some schools all over the world had to shut down after reopening due to a spike in the pandemic. All schools must make efforts to comply with these requirements, not just for the improvement of the overall school operations but for safe reopening for academic activities to support the Lagos State Government quest for a full return”.
While advising schools to have a flexible teaching and learning plans where students and teachers who feel sick can teach or learn from home via available online platforms, Seriki-ayeni said schools must strive to avoid any Covid-19 infection in their school.
The DG further advised that teachers, students and visitors must wear face mask at all time, observe physical distancing, regularly wash hands with soap under running water and maintain high standard of personal hygiene in the school premises. She emphasised that schools must have an isolation/holding bay to care for medical emergencies should students come up with symptoms such as cough, headache, catarrh, difficulty in breathing, sneezing and fever.
She also said further measures put in place by the Lagos State government through the Office of Education Quality Assurance is for public and private schools in Lagos State to register online with the OEQA, take the school self-risk assessment, take the online training course to obtain reopening clearance for academic activities on the OEQA website: www.oeqalagos.com.
According to her, this will help the office to determine the level of preparedness as well as guide schools on what they need to put in place for a safe reopening. She implored school leaders to embrace new learning style like outdoor classes, staggered attendance, platooning or alternative attendance among others in collaboration with parents in a safe and secure environment.