Kwara Govt To Reopen 10 Colleges Shutdown Over Hijab Today

Ten colleges that were shut down following the hijab controversy in Kwara state will be reopened for the third term session on Monday, 12 April.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Kemi Adeosun, said on Sunday, said the decision was to bring students tn the schools to meet up for the period when their schools were shut.

The 10 grant-aided missionary schools involved in the controversy were shut down by the state government on Feb. 19 for safety reasons.

The government statement did not indicate whether the hijab stand-off has been resolved between Christian leaders and the government.

The statement however mentioned a ‘monitoring team, to ensure “compliance”.

”This is to inform parents/guardians and teachers that the 2020/2021 Third Term Academic Session for the 10 schools affected in the recent hijab debate starts on Monday, April 12.

”This is part of the government’s efforts to bring the students in these schools up to speed in whatever they may have missed when their schools were shut.

”This is especially necessary for students preparing for external examinations.

”The resumption date for other schools not affected by the brief closure of schools is Monday 26th, 2021, as had earlier been communicated,” Adeosun said.

According to the permanent secretary, all the teachers and staff of the affected schools should resume duty and commence classes immediately.

She, however, noted that the Monitoring and Inspection team of the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development would be going round to ascertain compliance.

The affected schools are C&S College Sabo-Oke, St. Anthony’s Secondary school, Offa Road, ECWA School, Oja Iya, Surulere Baptist Secondary School and Bishop Smith Secondary School, Agba Dam.

Others are CAC Secondary School Asa Dam road, St. Barnabas Secondary School Sabo-Oke, St. John School Maraba, St. Williams Secondary School Taiwo Isale, and St. James Secondary School Maraba