Often proactive, Kaduna state government has ordered the shutting of all schools in the state over a second wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
State Governor, Mr. Nasir el Rufai, himself is in isolation over the discovery of Covid-19 in his home and among some of his staff, but the state government through its Commissioner of Education, Dr Shehu Usman-Mohammed, directed schools to shut today (Wednesday) over Covid-19 fears.
Some have pointed to the drama playing out in Katsina as an added incentive to fast track the closure; nevertheless, the commissioner maintained that following reports of a new wave of Coronavirus infections found within the age bracket of 10 to 35, the decision was necessary.
He advised schools to contemplate the use of the internet for learning where necessary.
The closure in Kaduna comes as conflicting reports are in the air over the actual number of students of Government Science Secondary School, Kankara that are in the hands of abductors since Friday when the security of the school was breached and hundreds taken hostage.
The insurgent group, Bolo Haram’s leader, Abu Shekau, say his group abducted the students to promote Islan, but would not say how many students they have.
His words, “What happened in Katsina was done to promote Islam and discourage un-Islamic practices as Western education is not the type of education permitted by Allah and his Holy Prophet,” he was quoted as saying.
“They are also not teaching what Allah and his Holy Prophet commanded. They are rather destroying Islam. It may be subtle, but Allah the Lord of the skies and earths knows whatever is hidden. May Allah promote Islam. May we die as Muslims.”
Katsina State Governor, Mr. Aminu Bello Masari, says 333 are missing or unaccounted for; Presidential spokesman, Mr. Garba Shehu, incredibly put the figure at 10; but other sources have put a question mark on the figures.
A newspaper, Daily Trust, suggested a higher figure. It says one of its reporters, who was at the school gathered that at the time of the incident, the school had 1,074 students in both its Junior and Senior Secondary sections in session.
It reports further: ‘A source in the school said, “in the junior section, there are six classes, comprising JSS 1A, which has 58 students, 1B, which has 62 students and 1C, which has 64 students; JSS 2A has 74 students, 2B has 79 students and 2C has 75 students.
“As for the senior section, we have seven classes, which include SS1A, 97; 1B, 108; 1C, 106 and 1D, 118. While in SS2, we have 2A, 74; 2B, 79 and 2C, 80, giving a total of 1074 students.”
The source added that both SS3 and JSS 3 students had completed their exams, and were not in school during the attack.
The newspaper adds that 270 students were rescued from the school on the night of the attack and with the number of those who returned from the bush the following night or those who were reported to have gone home by their parents, the number of those found rose to 406 on Sunday morning.
Meantime, an abducted student, Osama Aminu Maale, told journalists that 520 students were abducted.
18-year-old Maale said, “There were a total of 520 of us that were taken by the gunmen from the school.
“After they took us away, we stopped inside the bush where they made the older students take a headcount. We counted 520.
“One of the gunmen hit me repeatedly when I failed to keep up with the rest of the group due to my failing health before he let me trail behind, giving me the chance to escape.”