As part of measures to cushion the effect of the removal of petrol subsidy, the Edo State Government reduced the number of days for operations at public basic and junior secondary schools in the state from five to three beginning from June 13.

The Chairman, Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Ozavize Salami, disclosed this to journalists in Benin after a meeting between the head of service and other government functionaries on the government’s directive on the three workdays.

 “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.”

Also speaking, the State Head of Service,  Anthony Okungbowa, 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 said the government would provide shuttle buses running between government house, state secretariat among others to help reduce the stress of workers in the state. He added that the government has identified eight routes in the city where buses would be provided to cushion the hike in transportation fares on the residents.