The Federal Government has announced plans to deploy 60,000 Environmental Health Emergency Volunteers to schools in 774 Local Government Areas across the country.
The Minister of Environment, Mohammad Abubakar who made this announcement on Monday in Abuja said the deployment is to ensure that the guidelines of the COVID-19 protocols are strictly adhered to as schools reopen on October 12.
Abubakar said the health officers will be assisting the schools to adopt basic safety measures which include hand washing, compulsory use of face mask, temperature checks as well as physical distancing.
“As a major stakeholder, the Ministry of the environment is set to play its role in the entire chain of events in school reopening.
“We shall be activating 6,000 of such volunteers to cover schools in all the 774 local governments in the Federation,” the Minister said
The 6,000 volunteers will be working with stakeholders at the national level with guidelines and there will be monitoring and evaluation by the Federal Government to ensure strict compliance of health protocols by schools across the country.
Abubakar also said the volunteers will be employed based on their previous performance while carrying out examination surveillance.
The Federal Government, last week ordered unity schools in the country, earlier closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to reopen on October 12th, 2020.
Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, while making the announcement said the decision was reached after due consultations with stakeholders and the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19.
