The Federal Government has declared a three days break for Unity Schools across the country over the February 16 presidential election.
The Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu, who made this known Friday, said the break will be from February 15 to 19th as a mid-term break for students of all the Unity Schools across the country.
The Minister who revealed this at the ”7th edition of the Ministerial News Briefing” in Abuja, said the midterm is to enable parents of the students have time to go and cast their votes during the elections.
“Our students in unity schools are not of voting age but we adjusted the mid-term break to make it fall within the elections period. The date for the mid-term break will be from Friday, Feb. 15 to Tuesday, Feb. 19. This is for only unity schools in the country.
“We are not shutting down other schools. The essence of this break is to enable parents have maximum time to go and cast their votes and have the freedom to bring their children and wards back to school. Even if the child is not of voting age, the parent is of voting age. The break is only for presidential elections.
“There is no break for governorship elections,” he said.
While reacting to the strike that was called off by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) on Feb. 7, Adamu commended everyone involved in the negotiations.
“All was for the development of the country’s educational system. I am happy to announce that ASUU has called off its strike.
“In spite of my anger and anxiety with ASUU, I must also commend their patriotism and public spiritedness because the last few weeks were about the struggle for education system and not their allowances,” he said.
The minister expressed optimism that Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP) would also suspend its two months strike before Monday.