Compliance with the COVID-19 schools’ reopening guidelines in public and private primary schools in a South-West Nigerian Town

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise with various burdens of morbidity and mortality in different countries, including Nigeria. Consequently, schools in Osun State were shut to prevent spread of the disease. The Federal Ministries of Education and Health and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control prepared a set of COVID-19 schools’ reopening guidelines for a safe school environment upon resumption. However, there is sparse documentation on compliance with these guidelines in primary schools nationwide. Objective: To assess and compare the compliance of public and private primary schools in Ile-Ife with the COVID-19 schools’ reopening guidelines. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study with 100 (50 public and 50 private) randomly selected primary schools in Ile-Ife. The instrument was a checklist of the COVID-19 guidelines assessed in the schools by the research team. Data were analysed using SPSS version 25. Univariate analysis was used to present the compliance in the schools, while the Chi-Square test was used for comparison, andp-values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Ethical approval was obtained accordingly. Results: Overall, only 21 schools (21%) had good compliance, comprising six public (12%) and 15 private (30%) schools. There was a significant association between the type of school and compliance (p = 0.027). Conclusion: Compliance with the COVID-19 guidelines was generally low, although better among the private compared to the public schools. The materials needed for the prevention and control of COVID-19 and other infections should be provided in schools at all times.