As primary and secondary schools in Lagos State resume for the second term of the 2020/21 academic year, government-owned schools are to still maintain the shift-system introduced last year when they reopened for the first term of the year.
Afemai Reporters gathered that the shift system is to be continued so as to observe safety protocols introduced to stem the spread of COVID-19.
The shift system involves students in SS1 and JS3 classes going to school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while those in SSS 2 and JSS 2 go on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
At the primary school level, the pupils were divided into two categories with the first set going to school on Mondays and Wednesdays and for about three hours on Friday morning.
The other set attends school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and for three hours on Friday afternoon. Sources in the Ministry of Education said the shift system is to avoid large gatherings and for the enforcement of social and physical distancing as part of the measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Private primary and secondary schools do not observe the system because of the assumption that they are not as congested as public ones.
Many people have criticised the shift system, saying the time for contact between students and teachers was too short.
They also argued that it places students in private schools at a great disadvantage over their counterparts in public schools.
Afemai Reporters recall that Oyo State too joined Lagos last year to observe the shift system in the running of public primary and secondary schools, but Oyo discarded the system early this year while ordering the reopening of those schools for the second term of the session.