Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has announced Monday, October 8, 2014 as the new date for the resumption of schools in the state for the 2014-2015 academic session.

He said yesterday that the 16-day extension from the Monday, September 22 resumption date announced by the federal government would be used to conclude the distribution of personal hygiene and other preventive materials against Ebola Virus Disease infection in all the schools.

Fashola disclosed this at a meeting with teachers of public schools in the state held at the LTV Blue Roof Hall, Alausa, Ikeja. He said that the October 8 date was arrived at by the State Executive Council after considering the fact that the Eid-el-Fitri public holiday was already around the corner and that it would not be ideal to break the school programme again soon after resumption.

Fashola reiterated that the Ebola has been contained in the state and there was no need for anyone to fear.

He acknowledged the anxiety of the teachers as genuine but said Lagos has reached the point where the government must take a decision on when to open the schools. “We can compare and contrast what is the experience in other states; those experiences can only guide us, they cannot bind us,” the governor stated.

Earlier in her address, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Public Health, Dr. Yewande Adeshina, had assured the teachers that the Ebola had been finally contained and there was no case of the disease in the state. She assured that necessary preventive materials against the disease had been sent to the education district offices for distribution to the schools.

Such materials, according to Adeshina, include drums of water with taps and buckets as well as liquid soap for hand washing, hand gloves, thermo-scans, sanitizers and so on.

She further disclosed that in the last two weeks, the Ministry of Health had engaged in training teachers from all Lagos schools to ensure that they have the right information about the disease.

The meeting was attended by hundreds of teachers as well as Principals, Vice-Principals, Tutors General, Head Teachers and their deputies. Executive members of the state chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers and other education stakeholders were equally in attendace.

•Photo shows Governor Fashola.

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