As Schools Reopen

Towards the end of ev
ery term, most parents seem tired of the daily school runs. One could hear some of them complaining of how stressful it could be, waking up very early in the morning on Monday to Friday to get their children ready for school. The chaotic traffic situation in some cities like Port Harcourt, especially in the morning rush hour, the poor state of our roads, compile  the woes  of some parents  as they ever complain of spending hours on road to drop their offsprings in schools and pick them. The poor transport system in most cities in the country incidentally, make the situation no better.
The situation is not peculiar  to Nigeria. A recent research shows that parents find driving their children to and from school the most stressful part of their day.
The study conducted by Micro Scooters, United Kingdom, revealed  that 77 per cent of parents who drive their kids to school find both the morning and afternoon school runs more stressful than work or grocery shopping. It found a staggering 54 per cent of people are more likely to use their horn or swear at other drivers during  the school run than  at any other time on the road as stress levels are so heightened.
Eighty per cent  of parents interviewed, admitted to losing their temper with their young ones on the drive to school on a daily basis and 42  per cent even admitted to feeling sick when thinking about the prospect of the dreaded drive.
It is therefore a big relief for such parents when schools embark on holiday as that affords them the opportunity of resting from the frustrating situation for some weeks. If it were within their powers, many of them would even  bring the closing date   nearer.
However, most parents had their fill of the last long vacation which was incidentally extended due to the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in Nigeria. Economists will tell you that human  wants are insatiable. It is so  impossible to satisfy  the needs of man. As the holiday dragged from one, two to three months, the same parents who desperately yearned for holiday started  demanding that schools should  resume so that their kids could go back to school as it was becoming a big task controlling them at home.
Eventually, after about twelve weeks holiday, schools in many states reopened on Wednesday, October 8. Expectedly, parents, teachers, children were excited to be back to  school. Many were seen hugging one another, telling stories of what happened during the holiday. A parent was heard saying she added a lot of weight during the holiday and wished the stress  of school run would help her come down.
One dominant topic in the discussion of most parents in my children’s school was the school’s level of preparedness  to prevent Ebola spread. At the entrance to the school were three wash hand  basins with hand washing liquids, and saciets  to  dry your hands after washing and  infraray thermometers. No one enters the school without washing his/her hand and  having his temperature checked. At the passage to the classrooms are many newly installed wash hand basins and liquid, soap for the kids to wash their  hands at intervals in addition to a bottle of  hand sanitizers  in every class. The school’s sick bay was also improved with additional doctors and nurses on standby. Many of the teachers have also been  educated  on the dreaded disease.
One must therefore commend the Proprietress and management  of CITA International School, Port Harcourt and other private schools for the adequate measures towards the prevention of EVD in the state and the country at large.
The same commendation goes to the state government for providing  kits, hand sanitizers and other materials needed to prevent the spread of the disease in Public schools.  Although,  Rivers State and indeed Nigeria has been certified Ebola free, there is need  to take all precautionary measures to prevent  another outbreak as school resumes.
As stated in an earlier article, we need to improve  the Sanitary condition  of most of our public schools. A situation where most of these schools  lack toilet  facilities and functional tap water does not present us as people who are actually ready to prevent Ebola and other transmitted diseases.
More teachers should be trained on rapid response and containment of EVD in addition to educating parents on how to protect themselves and their children from contacting the virus.
This measure has been necessary as many people still believe  the whole story about  EVD is a fallacy.
May I also appeal that the poor state of many roads  in Port Harcourt be urgently looked into by the responsible organs  of government. We can greatly  reduce the  pains of school runs by fixing these roads in very deplorable conditions as the bottle neck they create  can sometimes be unbearable.

Calista Ezeaku