‘Schools merger not to inflict pains’

Osun State Governor Rauf  Aregbesola has said the policy of reclassification of schools introduced by his administration is not aimed at inflicting pains on the people of the state.

According to a statement by the Director of Communications in the governor’s office, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, on Monday, Aregbesola said this in Lagos while addressing members of the Ijesa Society.

The governor spoke just as members of the traditional religious adherents in the state berated some Christian and Muslim groups for opposing the new education policy.

The traditional believers, led by Mr. Kayode Esuleke, spoke at a press conference just as Parents Association and Parent Teachers Association in the state also rose in defence of the governor.

The Chairman of Parents Association, Dr. Ademola Ekundayo, and the chairman of PTA, Alhaji Afidat Lawal, described the new policy as laudable at a press conference in Osogbo on Monday.

The governor urged the cooperation from the people of the state while explaining that his administration met a culture of decay in the education sector and was determined to reverse the trend.

He said the reformation of the school feeding system had led to the spending of N3.6bn every year from primary 1 to 4, which made Osun State the only state with such policy in the country.

Aregbesola listed other efforts made by the administration to revamp the sector such as the distribution of free Opon Imo (electronic tablet), free uniform, free meal and others, which had started yielding positive results in the sector.

The governor said, “On the surface, it looks as if we are deliberately out to inflict pains with the reformation of our school system; nothing close to that is our intention. We saw a hopeless situation in our basic education system.

“Because of my experience with the comatose educational system in the state that we were about to inherit, even from the days of my campaigns, long before we assumed office, I made it very clear that we would carry out surgical attack on it when we assume office.

“We mentioned our intention to the whole world that we will address the issue of poor and totally dilapidated educational infrastructure of basic education, to aggressively solve the problem. Some of our policies are necessary but painful and may not be well accepted now.”

The governor added, “We are however convinced that surgery is not always pleasing and soothing to those who need it but the joy of recovery and healing more than compensates for the temporary pain of going under the knife.

“Rather than look at what we are doing as the best system to revamp education and ensure that our students have the best for our limited resources and to maximise our resources for excellence and efficiency, sentiment and primordial issues were brought into it that Aregbesola wants to Islamise Osun State.”

Culled from Punch.