The Lagos State Government has ordered all students in public and private schools to stay at home following the tension generated by the End SARS protests in the state.

The state Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, gave the directive, on Monday revealing that the safety of the students, parents and all staff working in schools was more important “at this critical period," according to Daily Post. 

She urged parents to keep an eye on their wards and not allow them to be used as willing tools in the hands of those who might want to hijack the protests to unleash chaos on the society.

The Commissioner also encouraged schools to utilize other means of distance teaching and learning such as radio, television and online media as they have been doing during and post coronavirus lockdown.

She further revealed that a new date of resumption for all classes will be announced as soon as possible.

Schools had only just resumed in September after they were shut down nationwide in March to combat the spread of COVID-19.

State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, earlier on Monday appealed to #EndSARS protesters to suspend demonstrations and engage in dialogue with the government.

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He said the government has shown commitment to responding to their demands and dialogue should be sustained in place of the demonstrations.

He said: "I believe that some of the actions we have taken should, to a large extent, show our sincerity and willingness to address all your concerns."

Thousands of protesters have been protesting nationwide for two weeks to demand the scrapping of the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) for numerous acts of brutality against citizens.

Even though the NPF dissolved the unit one week into the protests, protesters remain unsatisfied and have demanded more be done to end police brutality in general.

Numerous strategic locations in Lagos have been shut down by protesters for over a week, causing disruption for motorists.

At least 15 protesters have been killed, and many assaulted by police officers since the protests started two weeks ago.

Hoodlums have also attacked the protesters in Lagos and Abuja, and Edo, killing some protesters and injuring others.