The Anambra State government has adopted Saturdays for normal school days following the weekly sit–at–home on Mondays declared by the Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB.
Although the new measure takes immediate effect, some schools still opened yesterday for normal classes, while others asked the pupils to return home.
C Don Adinuba, the commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, who spoke with journalists on the new development, explained that it was to ensure the safety of pupils and teachers, as well as all the stakeholders.
He said: “We want our pupils to learn as much as possible in a safe environment. With the new measure we have taken, all the stakeholders are winners. These stakeholders are the pupils, teachers, school administrators, proprietors, parents, guardians, and the host communities.
“With this, nobody loses anything for the time being. We hope that in the next few weeks, things will normalize. With the Saturday school, people who depend on sales in the schools to feed their families will still make up for the loss of Monday as they will still be providing services in the schools five days in a week”
According to the Commissioner, Anambra teachers have already adjusted to the new measure as they believe it is a worthy sacrifice they have to make in the interest of education growthal in the state.
He added: “If we insist on going to school on Mondays under the present situation, the pupils and teachers might be harassed, which is what we do not want. You will recall an incident when an Anglican priest was killed because he allowed students to write exam on a Monday, while the motorcycles belonging to teachers were set ablaze by attackers.
“There is therefore the need to safeguard the life of everyone in the state. To us, this Saturday arrangement is a brilliant idea and it is the best alternative we have for now.”
Source: Vanguard
