State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Olasunkanmi Olaleye conveyed this approval in a statement issued on Tuesday.

The statement, however, tasked academic boards and Senate of the institutions to fix their specific resumption date from September 28 onwards and put in place COVID-19 guidelines for safe reopening.

Meanwhile, primary and secondary students are to resume classes on September 21, adhering to morning and afternoon shifts format.

According to the statement, pupils from primary one to primary three are to be in school between the hours of 8 am and 11 am while those in primary four to primary six will resume afterwards from 12 noon and exit at 3 pm.

For students in secondary schools, students in classes JSS1 to JSS3 will resume for morning shift from 8 am to 11 am while their counterparts in SSS1, SSS2 and SSS3 will resume afternoon shift from the hours of 12 noon and 3 pm.

Both private and public schools were, however, mandated to constitute COVID-19 Taskforce to be headed by heads of schools and two members of staff.

To ensure social distancing, school heads were advised to make temporary use of spaces like laboratories, libraries and examination hall as classrooms, while also discouraging sharing of items among students.