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It’s Too Dangerous To Reopen Universities— ASUU
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has said that having assessed the level of compliance to COVID-19 protocols, public varsities are still a long way from being ready to safely reopen.
In separate interviews with The PUNCH and SaharaReporters, the chapters of the union commented on the directive of the National Universities Commission that universities could resume on January 18, but must adhere to COVID-19 protocols in hostels and lecture halls.
ASUU expressed the readiness of its members to get back to work, but noted that the government is yet to enact measures to guarantee safe reopening of public varsities.
As gathered by EkoHotBlog, ASUU’s latest concern is not unconnected to the recent surge in coronavirus cases and deaths, which rose to 99,063 and 1,350 respectively on Saturday.
The union Chairman at the Obafemi Awolowo, University, Osun State, Dr Adeola Egbedokun, who spoke with newsmen said classroom and hostel situations in universities have still not been equipped with the requisite COVID-19 preventive paraphernalia.
Egbedokun further lamented that no logistical arrangements have been made so far for the safe reopening of schools and enjoined parents to insist on the enactment of safety protocols before releasing their wards for resumption.
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He said, “COVID-19 is very real and this second wave is as real as described. We cannot afford to toy with our health and our dear students’ health in the name of resumption, which is politically motivated.
“There are no preparations for safe re-opening of the universities and I think parents must insist on safe re-opening. The current classroom and hostel configurations in our universities do not in any way conform with the PTF (Presidential Task Force) on COVID-19 protocols. There is no way universities can achieve that. I have said this elsewhere, that rather than for the government to have addressed the obvious deficits in the public universities during the lockdown and strike, they were playing to the gallery.”
At the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, the ASUU branch said the university is not ready to reopen in the light of the non-implementation of COVID-19 preventive protocols.
The Chairman of ASUU-FUNAAB, Dr Adebayo Oni, in an interview with SaharaReporters on Sunday, stated,
“The lectures halls are overcrowded. As of today, in my campus, I have not seen any facility for hand washing Who is to provide sanitisers? Do you expect lecturers to provide sanitisers for themselves?
“Fumigation of the environment from time to time should be done. How do you cope with students’ surge and the challenge of power supply?”
“The fact is that under this circumstance and looking at the threat of the figure, going physical with students would be more disastrous. Conducting physical sessions, physical lectures with students would be more disastrous.
“We don’t want to be pessimistic to say that it is not workable. However, it will be at the risk of our lives and our students’ lives if the government’s required facilities are not provided.
“The truth is that the facilities to cope with the pandemic are not available in our institutions. It appears the government is not ready and our institutions are not helpful.”
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