Ebola: What Schools Must Do Before Re-Opening

Although stakeholders have lauded the efforts of the government to postpone resumption of all private and public primary and secondary schools, Nigerian children cannot stay home forever for fear of the Ebola Virus Disease, EVD. Sooner or later, primary and public schools will have to resume whether or not the scourge ends. It is with this in mind that managers of schools have put in place measures to prevent further spread upon resumption.
Recall that the EVD was brought into Nigeria last month with the arrival of the late American-Liberian, Patrick Sawyer, and it has killed over five people.While announcing the shift in the resumption of schools, the Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, charged all state Ministries of Education to immediately organise and ensure that, at least, two staff in all public and private schools are trained on how to handle any suspected case of Ebola and also embark on immediate sensitization of all teaching and non-teaching staff in all schools on preventive measures.
Though efforts to know if officials of the Lagos State Ministry of Education have commenced the required training for teachers proved futile, Vanguard Learning gathered that at a meeting organised by the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, NAPPS, the state government, through the Special Adviser on Health to Governor Raji Fashola of Lagos State, Dr. Yewande Adesina, charged all schools to, among other things, encourage proper hand washing by installing functional taps by school gates for anyone coming into the schools to wash their hands and regularly check the temperature of all students.
Giving tips on how to reduce the chances of contracting the virus, especially in schools, a senior nurse at a primary health center at Ketu, Lagos, who declined having her name in print, urged parents and school teachers to teach the students to properly wash their hands as often as possible, avoid putting their hands in their mouths and to as much as possible, avoid shaking or having body contact with people.

“Since the virus grows on body openings like eyes and mouth among others, and is passed through body fluids, it is important for people, especially children and their teachers, to adopt the seven steps of hand washing and wash their hands regularly since the children are prone to putting their hands into their mouths or rubbing their eyes.

“It is not just enough to wash your hands with soap but to learn the seven steps of hand washing which allow you to thoroughly scrub your hands. Hand sanitizers can come in handy, especially when one doesn’t have access to water. Though these are not the full solution but could go a long way in saving lives.”

Though observers worry what will happen if, come 13 October and Nigeria isn’t free of the EVD, Vanguard Learning sought to know what measures managers of schools are putting in place to prevent further spread of the virus when schools eventually resume.

The Proprietor, Caro-Favour Schools, Mr. Mark Okoh, said aside implementing recommendations from the meeting with Dr. Adesina, his school is organising staff seminars and parents’ forum so as to educate parents on what they need to do to complement the efforts of the school.
Listing steps taken by his school, the Registrar, Shalom Nursery & Primary School, Ipaja, Lagos, Mr. Adedayo Akinola, said: “the first step taken is to send teachers on training on how to prevent and manage the EVD situation. These teachers would, in turn, train other teachers on the prevention and management of the virus.

“We have also sent out messages to the parents on the precautionary steps to take to ensure the safety of their children. But the most important step is that, upon resumption, everyone would have to wash their hands before entering the school, and there would be regular hand washing and use of hand sanitizers because it would be difficult controlling children from touching each other.”

For the Proprietor, De Modernpace Schools, Mrs. Olayinka Elegbede, proper and regular hand washing habits would be enforced.

Her words: “though it is not easy stopping children from having hand and body contact, we intend to reduce that to the barest minimum by making sure that they stay in their classes most of the time, even during break time and also instill regular hand washing habits in them.”