Exclusive: Dearth of running grants hit public schools in Oyo

PUBLIC primary and secondary school education may suffer setback in Oyo State following the inability of the state government to inject funds into the school system

The state governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, had, at different fora directed that all forms of payment in public primary and secondary schools ceased with immediate effect, a decision which has left the schools without running funds to maintain curricular and co- curricular activities, investigations by Mega Icon Magazine have shown.

Also, the state government has refused to employ teachers despite an acute shortage of teaching personnel in public primary and secondary schools across the state, while private teachers hired through the contributions of Parents Teachers Association (PTA) were relieved of their jobs.

Our checks further revealed that the public schools became the target of attacks by hoodlum following the forced withdrawal of security guards, especially the night guards after Governor Makinde announced the abolition of payment of the fees.

Reacting to this development, one of the Principals who spoke in confidence lamented, “we are finding it difficult to pay for the services of security guards and others employed to complement our efforts”.

Before now, pupils in public secondary schools paid N1000 per term each under the education policy of Schools’ Governing Boards (SGBs) of the immediate past administration led by Senator Abiola Ajimobi. Investigations unearthed that the N1000 fees were domiciled in the accounts of the schools for their smooth -running.

Meanwhile, the Oyo state government through its Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Kehinde Sangodoyin at the launching and dedication of projects embarked upon by Old Students of Ibadan City Academy, Ibadan vowed that the government would start paying running cost for the upkeep of public schools from Monday September 30th, 2019.

 

According to Prof. Sangodoyin, ” parts of the State education policy is to improve access and participation of our students in academic activities at all levels, be it primary or secondary and since the governor has removed levies hitherto paid by our students and has just approved the payment of running cost to our primary and secondary schools”.

However, our findings on  Wednesday (9th October, 2019) revealed that the state government has not fulfilled its promise .

 

Another Principal, who also pleaded anonymity lamented the cancelation of the Education Development Levy without providing an alternative, adding that running of schools had become ineffective.

He observed that there was high disregard for continuity in the formulation of educational policies, stressing that lack of funds has contributed to the schools’ inability to effectively implement the curriculum, which has greatly affected the academic activities.

While, highlighting the challenges during a chat with our reporter, he , however sought government’s intervention.

“We are faced with numerous challenges, which include inadequate teachers, inability to effectively implement the school curriculum on some subjects and lack of teachers and facilities.”

Shockingly, the same concerns were raised in other schools visited by our reporter.

Speaking further, he disclosed that
considerable numbers of pupils in most of the primary and secondary schools in Oyo state still study in poor conditions, making it harder for them to perform well.

“More pupils in class due to insufficient furniture has made the study environment difficult to manage”, Mega Icon Magazine source concluded.