The Federal Government College Kwali would be reopened ahead of resumption this month, the Minister of State for Education Goodluck Opiah has said.
Opiah said the college was closed to protect the students and to pre-empt any attack on the school.
The minister said the Federal Government; in collaboration with security agencies, has ensured adequate security in the unity schools in preparation for resumption.
Opiah said this at a briefing yesterday in Abuja in preparation for the 2022 edition of the “International Day to Protect Education from Attack.”
In July, the Federal Government College Kwali and other schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) were forcefully closed for fear of bandits’ attack.
Opiah stated that observance of the “International Day to Protect Education from Attack” was initiated by Qatar and co-sponsored by 62 other countries at the 76th United Nations General Assembly in 2020 and was unanimously espoused.
He stated that this was the third edition and the ministry strategically chose the theme “Implementing the School Safety Policy as a Tool to Protect Education from Attack: Our Collective Responsibility.”
He added: “The theme foregrounds the education sector’s hands-on actions to protect education from violent situations and armed conflict thereby upholding the right to education and its continuity in such emergencies as enshrined in the Safe School Declaration which Nigeria ratified on March 20 2019.”
The minister said the theme was devised by the ministry to create awareness of the existence of the school safety policy and the need for state governments, education institutions and stakeholders, civil society organisations, the military and the general public to operationalise the guidance therein.
He noted that the school safety policy highlighted the strategies for emergency preparedness in education institutions, measures for harm reduction, stakeholders to contact for help in case of imminent attack, deterrence of the military from using education institutions and procedures to ensure that education continues if the attack is inevitable.