Preparing For Resumption After Covid19

The Federal Government recently announced that Institutions should get ready for reopening in the coming weeks.  This was reported by some of the Nigerian Daily reporters, including Sahara Reporters. Social media platforms like Twitter broke as students share their different views. While some students expressed their happiness of getting back to academic ways, others displayed displeasure and unreadiness to the new development.

Is Resumption A Wise Decision?

Personally, I do not think the coronavirus will be leaving any time soon. We just have to cope with it and apply preventive measures. Having said that, easing into our daily lives will not be a bad idea at all. The academic calendar is hugely affected already, leaving final year students in an awkward situation. For me, resumption should be encouraged.

How to curtail the unforeseen disaster

Well, Resumption will, most certainly, come with drawbacks. Students from different states will have to meet up and come in contact with each other. This will encourage the spread of the virus and also put the lives of students/lecturers in jeopardy. The big question now is: How can the unforeseen disaster be curtailed? Here are some personal suggestions:

Decongestion of Lecture theatres

In federal universities, especially, lecture theatres are always crowded and stuffy. With the current situation, it will not be wise to maintain the same condition. The management should think of a way to decongest the classrooms or divide the classes into groups in order to minimize contacts and the spread of the virus.

Reduction of Academic Hours

Academic hours should be reduced in order to minimize the influx of students. The lecturers should be given an ultimatum to take their classes as brief as possible and instruct students to read more and work from home.

Morning and Evening Sections

Morning and evening sections should be created in order to reduce the number of students that will be in a particular location at the same time. This will, I am sure, help in controlling the crowd in faculties like Education where the students are in large numbers.

Hostel Regulations

There should be strict rules in the hostels and a regulatory measure as to the movement of students. The hostels should be decongested also, in order not to encourage frequent contacts.

Health Officers

The management should also consider employing health officers that will be at the entrance of the institutions with a fast machine that will test the temperature of incoming students. The use of face masks should be made compulsory. Hand sanitizers and handwashing facilities should also be made available at the entrance of the school, the classrooms, and the hostels. This will help in curtailing the spread of the virus in the schools.

Finally…

It will take time for things to go back to normalcy. Before then, it is important to make do with the situation at hand. The best option in this situation happens to be the tough decision of reopening schools even before the eradication of the virus. with the above measures and more, things will get better in no time.

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