Subsidy removal: Edo government reduces school days to three

Following the hike in fuel prices across the country, the Edo state Government has announced plans to reduced the number of fays for operations at public basic and junior secondary schools.

The move to reduce school days from five to three days was to cushion the effect of the subsidy removal which began on May 29, the day President Bola Tinubu made the announcement.

According to the Chairman of Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Ozavize Salami, he noted that, “Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have been chosen to be the days for our children to go to school while the school will be closed for Thursday and Friday. Our plan for this period focuses on maximizing e-learning, ensuring the children cover the curriculum they ought to cover. They will stay for six weeks before vacation. For administrative reasons, we have chosen the first three days of the week as students will come to school.

We have increased the learning hours for basic school across the State by one hour and two hours for junior secondary schools to achieve the school curriculum and integrated the timetable for Thursdays and Fridays into Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays.”

The State Head of Service, Anthony Okungbowa, on his part said, "the reduced office workdays would not affect the productivity and efficiency of the service. He charged heads of agencies, MDAs, permanent secretaries of various ministries to develop the work templates and ensure that what they do works for them and ensure government services are not interrupted.”

He revealed the state government's plan to provide shuttle buses running between government house, state secretariat among others to help reduce the stress of workers in the state.

Okungbowa further said that eight routes in the city has been identified where buses would be provided to aid in the reduction of the effects of the fuel hikes on residents.