Oyo govt directs demolition of dilapidated school structures

THE dilapidated secondary school buildings in Oyo state would be pulled down in the coming days as government directed the School Governing Boards (SGBs) in all the 628 Public Secondary Schools in the state to avoid imminent collapse.

These wrecked buildings have also been turned in to a safe haven by hoodlums and criminals, thus needed to be pulled down as the state government decided to fund the construction of new buildings to replace them.

The state government through its Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Adeniyi Olowofela gave the directive recently during this month’s statutory meeting where issues affecting education were discussed.

The meeting which was held at the Conference room, Ministry of Education, Agodi Government Secretariat, Ibadan had in attendance, the Acting Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Directors, Zonal Inspectors of Education (ZIEs) , Local Inspectors of Education (LIEs) and Principals of ministry control Schools.

The Commissioner declared these buildings dangerous and ‘no go areas’ for students adding that the government was not waiting for a serious incident before taking necessary steps.

According to the commissioner, more worrying than the physical condition of these schools was the suspected crime on school grounds. “It can be used by criminals to do whatever they wanted, including raping young girls ”.

Complementing the existing infrastructure, Olowofela also disclosed that the governor has approved the construction/rehabilitation of no fewer than 100 secondary schools across the 33 local government areas in the state based on needs and strategic locations.

The Commissioner, while describing the Education Inspectors as influencers, however urged them to complement government huge investment in the education sector through adequate monitoring to ensure that teachers and students are alive to their responsibilities.