The Lagos State Ministry of Education has said that the school resumption calendar in circulation on social media is fake.

 

The Education Quality Assurance (OEQA) unit of the ministry has urged the public to disregard it.

 

The time-table claims to be the 2020/2021 academic calendar, states that the first term of the session would start September 21, 2020 and end December 18, 2020 though Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said weekend that the resumption date he announced was not cast in stone.

 

The purported calendar also gives January 11, 2021 and May 3, 2021 as the start dates for the second terms, adding; â€œThe Ministry of Education, Science and Technology enjoins all stakeholders and members of the public to take note of the details of the academic calendar.

 

However, a statement by the Public Affairs Officer, OEQA, Mr. Emmanuel Olaniran, said the calendar did not come from its office.

 

“Please be informed that the academic calendar above did not emanate from the Office of Education Quality Assurance (OEQA). Kindly disregard,” it reads.

 

A pointer that the calendar is not from Lagos is that it refers to the authorizing body as the ministry of education, science and technology.

 

Lagos State has its Ministry of Education separate from the Ministry of Science and Technology.

 

A coalition of holders of Higher National Diploma are threatening to embark on industrial action if government fails to implement a white paper detailing the removal of dichotomy on their career progression in public service in four weeks.

 

According to DailyTrust, the coalition, comprising public servants, unions and students amongst others, says it will occupy the office of the Head of Service of the Federation, if its demands are not met in four weeks.

“We are going to occupy that office until they do the needful because we will not continue to keep quiet and things will continue to go wrong,” Chris Isiquzo Ikechukwu, president of Nigerian Union of Journalists and a Visitor of International Institute of Journalists, told a press briefing in Abuja on Thursday.

 

He said having one group of workers enjoying their promotion in service and another group slow, â€œis unacceptable to us.”

The white paper has been nearly 14 years waiting to be implemented, said president of Higher National Diploma Holders Association of Nigeria (HNDHAN) Sabastine Onyemaobi

 

He added the wait continues to expose HND graduates to discrimination, stigmatization and undue stagnation.

 

He said HND holders do not progress above level 14 rather they are faced with demotion in cases where they try to rise above that, after acquiring PGD and Masters as required by the law.

 

He demanded that the HND certificate holders from accredited NBTE be recognized as approved by the white paper to progress to higher grades up to level 17.

 

While noting that their members are becoming restive and they may not be able to contain their agitation, he said promotion and progression in career if free and highly competitive and that HND holders should be given a level playing ground.

 

The coalition, however, appealed to the president to take this seriously and call the HoS to order because anything that affects a particular set of government affects the entire system.