Stakeholders applaud new Oyo education policy

Education stakeholders in Oyo State have lauded the state government for its firm approach towards reclaiming the lost glory of the education sector as well as improving its quality to meet new and higher performance targets, saying that the new education policy was a positive step in the right direction.

The stakeholders, who were part of the guests at the Town Hall Meeting held at the International Conference Center, University of Ibadan on Thursday where the new education policy was launched by the state governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, said that government’s resolution to create Schools Governing Boards (SGB) that will provide management functions for each secondary school in the state would revive the education sector.

Ajimobi, while launching the new education policy said his administration had resolved to rebuild the education sector to put a stop to poor academic performance by public school students, stressing that the condemnation against students arsonists should be collective as the burning and destruction of classrooms and school properties were acts that even parents should not condone.

The governor said the newly introduced Schools Governing Board (SGB) would serve as a bridge between the government and the community in the management of various public secondary schools in the state, stressing that the SGB would be managed by various stakeholders of each school which includes community leaders, old students associations, principals and head boys/girls of each school.

According to him, “it is shameful that Oyo State that hosts the first university in the country is performing woefully in public examinations, but we should all join hands together to revamp our education sector. For us to get this work done, we should all come together and condemn the criminal tendencies in our students as they burned classrooms and destroyed public properties while protesting against the policy against mass promotion.”

The governor called for an all-inclusive stakeholders support, stressing that the state government is open to support from other sources for the development of education in the state. “Oyo State government is open to your support in the education sector. Let all old students within and outside the country join hands together to uplift their alma-mata, and if community leaders or a community wishes to contribute its quota to a school within the community, it is a welcome development. These are ways by which we can develop our education sector”, he said.

He gave the assurance that the crisis at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso (LAUTECH) would soon be over as the fact finding panel set up by the governments of Osun and Oyo to resolve the imbroglio would submit its report before the end of the month.