On August 9 2021, the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) issued the sit-at-home order in the South East region to protest the extraordinary rendition from Kenya in June 2021 and continued detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, in this feature, LN247 examines the Impacts of sit-at-home in the Southeast on education.
The group had while dishing the order, said that every Monday, which is arguably the most important and fundamental business and transaction day of the week, would be set aside as no-work-day or what it called, sit-at-home until the release of Mazi Kanu by the Federal Government.
Two years on, the sit-at-home order backfired, leaving in its trail some massive unintended consequences on the socio-economic, and even political development, of the South East region. It became a huge blow on the region, as people were not allowed to willingly comply. Instead, it was violently enforced, Innocent people have been brutally murdered in the name of sit-at-home enforcement.
IPOB has since made continuous statements to end the sit-at-home order, but it seems it is late after the Finland based Nigerian, Simon Ekpa, leading a faction of the IPOB called “Autopilots”, vowed the continuation of the sit-at-home in the region.
Ekpa has repeatedly pledged allegiance to Kanu and support for Biafra agitation.
Ekpa rose to prominence in July 2021, after he was announced as the lead broadcaster of Radio Biafra.
According to a report from the International Centre for Investigative Report (ICIR), over $12.215 billion or N5.375 trillion has been lost to sit-at-home since September 2021.
Since the declaration, the education of primary schools, secondary school students and undergraduates are presently affected as they are forced to skip school on Mondays because officials avoid school over fear of being harassed or killed.
As it is, every Monday, while pupils, students and teachers in different parts of the country attend schools, their counterparts in the South-East avoid going to school for security reasons, thereby drawing back the education of the people from the region.
It was apparently to tackle the challenge of missing out on school completely on Mondays and any other day that Kanu was appearing in court, that some schools, especially privately owned, have employed various means to meet up with the curriculum. While some have extended closure periods daily from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm, others have included Saturday as part of school days and in some cases, upload notes online for students to copy.
There are others still brainstorming on how to tackle the challenge.
The parents in the Southeast refused to allow their children to come to school on Saturday, saying it would negatively impact them. They rather called for an extension of closing time, which the teachers rejected on grounds that they would need to prepare for the next day’s classes and still take care of their families.
It does not appear that the matter has been resolved. The sit-at-home order on school days has continued to pose challenges to parents, students and school authorities in the southeast region.
Even in schools where closing time is pushed forward, students still find it difficult to cope as they would return home late, wash their uniforms, attend to take-home assignments and probably would not have time to review the previous day’s lesson.
Those who have agreed that lessons be uploaded online still complain of data to download the notes and the power supply challenge.
During the 2022 WASSCE examination, several students in Southeast missed out on the day the English Language was written. The paper was taken on a Monday, which was declared a sit-at-home in the region.
While some had arrived at their venue late due to transport and security issues, others did not show up at all, while hoodlums enforcing the order moved to schools and chased students writing the examination away in Imo State.
The sit-at-home in the Southeast has impacted negatively on the academic standard of pupils and students, both in primary and secondary schools, as well as undergraduates in tertiary institutions.
School curricula are not covered due to the break in teaching before the end of the term, leaving gaps in the workload and teachers/ students do not have enough time to cover the syllabus.
Monday is the beginning of the week, and in most cases, the day of introduction of new topics to the class. These holidays create more work for teachers, who now rush the students to cover the workload.
In the region, you see youths playing football on the streets, while others engage in games, gathering at odd places, rather than studying their books. Having observed Saturday, Sunday and Monday as school-free days, some of them tend to forget what they had learnt.
It’s a serious problem when most teachers don’t cover the syllabus, especially the JSS 3 and SS 3 classes before their final examinations, Teachers have to rush them and where possible, organise extra classes or lessons for them, as well as pupils writing primary six entrance examination into secondary school.
It tells much on students and pupils who feel this burden of much workload because the teacher has to cover much ground on each subject. When teachers arrange for extra lessons, some parents don’t welcome it. Even students feel tired and exhausted to continue lessons after school.
There have been renewed calls for the new administration to find a lasting solution to the sit-at-home impasse in the southeast. While some are touting the release of the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People Of Biafra, IPOB, others have lauded moves by the new Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja to flush out enforcers of the order which they believe will restore peace and sanity to the region.
