Ogun government absorbs 28 community schools, 577 teachers

The Ogun State Government said that it had taken over the management of 28 community schools across the state and absorbed their 577 teachers into its teaching service.

A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Kunle Somorin, said the state government took the decision because most of the community schools were insolvent.

The statement quoted the Special Adviser to the Governor on Primary, Secondary and Vocational Education, Mrs. Aderonke Soyombo, as saying that the action was taken in the interest of the children that would be affected if they were not absorbed.

She said: “The number of children to be affected if the absorption was not done would have risen to over 9,000.

“The schools were passed unto us. The last dispensation didn’t take it over; they did not absorb them. What we did was to absorb them.

“What we looked at was the number of children that will suffer and the number of children that was going to suffer would have risen to almost 9,000. But instead of those children suffering like that, we will rather take them in and empower those schools,” she said.

The special adviser also disclosed that the state government took an audit of all schools in the state, including the absorbed 28 community schools, with the view of having a clear data of schools in the state, adding that the absorption of the 577 teachers would not affect the current process of recruiting 1,500 teachers into the state-owned schools.

She, therefore, promised that in the next few months, schools in these local councils would have a new lease of life.