Ogun State Govt. Clarifies Initial Promise, Says Private School Students Must Pay For COVID-19 Tests

As plans are ongoing for the ensure COVID-19 tests are taken by SS3 boarding school students preparing for resumption in Ogun state, the state government has noted that the test will be free for state-owned public schools only.

The special adviser to the governor on basic and secondary education, Ronke Soyombo made this known in a statement yesterday.

Recall that on Friday, the state government had announced that boarding students in SSS 3 must submit a document certifying them negative for the coronavirus before resumption of schools on August 4.

Following this, students in private schools were asked to pay for their COVID-19 test at the accredited health care facilities as directed by the state government.

The action was not satisfactory to parents who have children in private schools.

The statement read that “The clarification has become necessary to remind the general public, particularly parents and operators in the education sector, of government position, which is based on the guidelines jointly developed and agreed by parents, private school owners, government representatives and other stakeholders,”

“The government will bear the full costs of the COVID-19 test for all the boarding SS3 students in the state-owned public schools.

“All private school owners are also expected to ensure that all their boarding students are certified COVID-19 test negative before being admitted into their boarding facilities.

The statement noted that the government has in a bid to assist the private schools, negotiated a huge discount in the cost of COVID-19 test with some healthcare service providers.

“However, private school owners and parents are free to engage any other service provider of their choice provided it is certified by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as COVID-19 test service provider.

“Indeed, certificate of negative COVID-19 test from other locations across the country will be tenable, provided, as usual, it is from an NCDC certified centre and the test has been performed within 72 hours of the date of resumption.”

Soyombo added that only boarding facilities directly operated by schools would be allowed to reopen so as to enable the state government monitor them for compliance with COVID-19 guidelines.