OPINION: Last Note On ₦3000 Education Development Levy | By Fasasi Adekunle

In the past few days, people have made comments on my disposition to the removal of ₦3000 education levy by the new government of Oyo state. The reactions revealed so much. I must say ab initio that I have passion for quality education and will always celebrate any government that invests much in education and implements good educational policies.

Till date, in recent dispensation, the government of Senator Rashidi Ladoja is unequalled in the state in term of attention paid to education. This explains my great respect for this elderly politician. In 8 years, education was not a priority to the government of Senator Isiaka Ajimobi. He practically ambushed and dealt great blows on quality education.

He stopped paying running grants to schools and reduced subventions to tertiary institutions considerably and education at that level suffered the most. This and a few other things made it unthinkable for people like me to fall in love with his government. This doesn’t mean he didn’t perform in some areas.

However, after about six years in office, he implemented the Schools Governing Board (SGB) policy which is an existing policy for the country that had been on paper all the while. Interestingly, so many people who made comments on my posts seem not to understand the policy. I will attempt an explanation.

The SGB is a policy aimed at involving all stakeholders in the management and financing of education to fast track its development. A board is set up comprising members from the community, old students, parents, current students and the school represented by the Principal. One of the aims is to encourage these individuals to attract funds from different local sources including individuals, groups and corporate bodies to assist in developing the school.

I know of a Chairman of a board and heard of others that single handedly funded projects running into millions for the schools they served as Chairmen. The major source of fund however, is the payment of ₦1000 by each student per term. The money is NOT paid into the government coffer. It is paid into an account managed by the board.

Areas of need of the schools are identified and gradually addressed. I have seen full rehabilitation of so many buildings in different schools. Teachers staff rooms have been renovated and made habitable, chairs and desks for students and teachers provided, laboratories renovated and laboratory materials made available.

It will interest you all to know that the government currently employs less than 50% of the required number of permanent teaching staff. The schools have not collapsed because of the services of SGB teachers, Corpers, NPower corps, PTA teachers and teaching practice students. The level of development in schools is such that in the next 4-5 years, there may not be any significant difference between these public schools and private schools.

And I am not talking of the model schools. In it about two years of implementation, the level of infrastructural projects implemented is more than what we had in the previous 12 years. However, the level of development in each school depends on the students’ population and the integrity of members of the board. As you know, some Nigerians can be fraudulent when placed in positions of trust.

The level of infrastructural decay in schools in Oyo is so appalling that no government, and I repeat, no government can provide enough resources within a short time to make significant impact in this sector. Equally, thousands of graduates who have something to at least, get themselves engaged in and hold body and soul together will go back to unemployment market.

Infrastructural development in schools will grind to a halt or slow down seriously. From my research work and experience, many parents will become unconcerned and uncaring about their children’s education. The saying that ‘Oogun ti aa fi owo se, ẹyin aaro longbe’ will be given an effect.

In conclusion, I publicly appeal to the government of Engr. Seyi Makinde to reconsider its stand and find another alternative of relieving the masses of their financial burden. Sometimes a leader is forced to make difficult decisions in the interest of the masses, who may think he doesn’t like them. A nurse who administers injections on a baby is never loved by the baby. Appreciation of the implications of difficult decisions often comes later after the eventual understanding of the logic behind the decisions.

God bless the government of Governor Seyi Makinde, God bless Oyo state, God bless Nigeria.

 

By Fasasi Rasheed Adekunle (PhD)