No dilapidated classrooms ’ll be in Osun after my second term – Aregbesola

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Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has assured people of the state that no school would be left with any dilapidated classroom by the end of his second term in office.

Aregbesola spoke at the weekend while commissioning three elementary schools in Ikirun, Iragbiji and Ila-Orangun amidst fun fare, stressing that with the spate at which his administration has been constructing new schools, the era of unfit learning environment would be history completely.

Students in school uniforms, guardians and parents trooped out to witness the unprecedented commissioning of the new schools with state-of-the-art facilities.

The schools are Holy Trinity Middle School, Ikirun, NUD Middle School, Iragbiji and St Julius Middle School, Ila-Orangun, which are all in Osun Central Senatorial District.

The middle schools, which are built in this same structural pattern, have capacity to accommodate 1,000 pupils with 25 classrooms, one large examination hall, 16 toilets, one audio visual room, information and computer technology (ICT) room, recreation facilities among others.

The governor emphasised that his administration has raised the stake by putting education on high pedestal with commissioning of the schools.

He disclosed that the state government is targeting provision of conducive classrooms for over 100, 000 pupils before end of the year, adding that by the time all the new school buildings are completed, no pupil or student would learn in dilapidated and haphazard classrooms again in the state.

“We are committed to developing both human and material resources in our state. This explains why we have specially focused on the education sector. Where we are taking the state is far in terms of development and we’ve just begun.”

Osun tertiary institutions lecturers suspend strike

Academic activities in Osun Stateowned tertiary institutions have come alive once again after striking lecturers announced the suspension of their five month- old industrial action.

In a telephone chat with journalists in Osogbo yesterday, chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Osun State Polytechnic, Iree and Public Relations Officer of Council of Academic Staff Union of Osun State Owned Tertiary Institutions, Mr. Dotun Omisore, said that the state government and the unions have reached an agreement on some of the demands of the lecturers.

It would be recalled that non-academic staff of the tertiary institutions had earlier in the week returned to work, while the academic staff resumed academic duties yesterday.

Omisore explained that the state government had signed into law the elongation of their retirement age from 60 to 65years as is obtained in the university system, adding that the state government has also set up an inter ministerial committee to look into the of contributory pension scheme. He also said that members of the unions are part of the committee.

He added that the government has agreed to make recruitment of more staff a priority with an assurance that within the shortest possible time, it would employ more academic and non-academic staff to fill the vacancies in the affected institutions. On the hazards of work and medical allowance, Omisore said that it was agreed that the issue should be negotiated with each of the governing council and management of the institutions.

He explained that it was based on the above agreement that the unions decided to suspend the strike action and return to their duty posts. The affected institutions are Osun State Polytechnic, Ire, Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke, Osun State College of Education, Ila-Orangun and Osun State College of Education, Ilesa.

Aregbesola provides 30 buses for public schools

A day after the landmark commissioning of 100 units of Handheld Ultrasound Scanners, four units of 3D Colour Doppler Scan machines and splashed N370 million welfare scheme on women empowerment, the Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, added another feat in the chain of welfare programmes yesterday as he launched 30 new civilian buses for students of public schools in the state.

Tagged “Omoluabi Scholar Bus”, the newly purchased civilian buses are meant to convey students from their respective homes to schools and back every school day.

Aregbesola said if the government’s quest for enduring socio-economic progress is to be achieved, government’s commitment to education and the future of the children cannot be superficial.

The governor said his administration embarked on this laudable programme because it’s dangerous to play politics with the education of children.

He said that the realisation of the importance of education and development of human capacity building prompted his government to create the best possible environment for the development of the total person.

He described the provision of buses for transporting the students as another proof of government’s focused attention to education.

“The buses we are rolling out today for the use of our high school students are another solid proofs of the importance and undivided attention our government genuinely accords education.

“With the O’Scholar Buses, the culture of punctuality will be further deepened in our students. They will be encouraged to get ready in time for the bus and in so doing get to school on time.

“And while on the bus to or from school, or travelling to and from school events, they will have the time to further bond together, reflect on their work and exchange useful ideas.

“One of the unique characteristics of our administration’s programmes is that they ensure the empowerment of the people. This explains why no single household in all of the state is without positive testimonies of the impacts of our programmes on them,” Aregbesola said.

He added that the buses will provide comfort and ease for students and parents and create employment for those who will be driving the buses.

In her remark, the Deputy Governor, who is also the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Grace Titi Laoye-Tomorri, noted that the provision of the buses is another demonstration of government’s commitment to providing quality and qualitative education for the children.

She charged the students to make the best use of the buses and maximise the opportunities the buses afford them.

The Managing Director of Sterling Bank PLC, represented by Mr. Ademola Adeyemi, Regional Business Executive, South-West (2), said the bank finds it profitable to partner government in providing the buses.

Adeyemi noted that Sterling Bank will continue to partner  government in realising its noble programmes.

He enjoined all the stakeholders to make judicious use of the scholar buses to benefit  all.

One of the beneficiaries, a student of St. Mark Anglican School, Osogbo, Miss Olatunji Oluwakemi, commended the governor for making education one of his administration’s top priorities.

Oluwakemi said Aregbesola’s government has made a lot of impact such as  the provision of Opon Imo, free school feeding, free uniforms, building of ultra-modern schools as well as construction of roads.

She implored the people of the state to vote wisely by returning Aregbesola to continue his laudable programmes in the state.

PHOTONEWS: Again, Aregbesola Demonstrates Commitment to Functional Education in Osun

Again, Aregbesola Demonstrates Commitment to Functional Education in Osun.

- Distributes Scholar Buses to Public Schools.

 The newly Commissioned Omoluabi Scholar Buses distributed by Aregbesola's Administration to all Public Schools in Osun, at Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo.

 From left, Deputy Governor State of Osun, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori; Governor Rauf Aregbesola; Chairman, Osun Schools' Infrastructure Development Committee, Otunba Lai Oyeduntan; Special Adviser on Commerce, Industries, Cooperatives and Empowerment, Dr Dauda Yinusa and others, during the commissioning of Omoluabi Scholar Buses to be distributed to all Public Schools, at Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo on Friday 18-07-2014

 Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola acknowledging cheers from Enthusiastic Students of Osun Public Schools during the commissioning of Omoluabi Scholar Buses to be distributed to all Public Schools, at Nelson Mandela Freedom Park, Osogbo on Friday 18-07-2014

Like Osun, like Benin

When the Osun State Government re-classified primary and secondary schools into elementary, middle and high schools in 2012, many pooh-poohed the policy.  But, a visit to Benin Republic has shown  that the system is not strange, after all, reports SINA FADARE

RE-CLASSIFICATION

It is a policy those in the opposition love to hate. When the Osun State Government reclassified schools in 2012, they descended on the Rauf Aregbesola administration, describing the policy as a ploy to destroy education. But, there is nothing strange about the policy which is also being implemented in Benin Republic.

In the exercise, primary schools were renamed elementary schools, and stopped at Grade 4 (Primary 4) instead of the former Primary Six. Junior Secondary Schools are now called Middle Schools and have pupils from Grades 5 to 9 (Primary 5 to Junior Secondary School 3); Senior Secondary Schools were replaced with high schools catering for SS1 to SS3 pupils.

For smooth implementation, schools were merged along the various levels.  The elementary schools accommodate 900 pupils; middle schools between 900 and 1,000; the high schools are designed to accommodate 1,000 for each of the three grades 10-12 (SS1-SS3).

The government also introduced school uniforms for the three levels.  In the public school system, only three uniforms exist, irrespective of the school’s location.

Justifying the re-classification, Governor Rauf Aregbesola said the system was introduced to reposition education, which was in a sorry state when he took over in November 2010.

His Deputy and Commissioner for Education, Mrs Titi Laoye-Tomori, said the system was tailored after the American education model, which advocates that children of the same age group should learn together.

Nevertheless, criticisms trailed the exercise.  Last year, there were protests in Osogbo, the state capital, and other areas over the policy. The protests had religious undertone. Christian groups were opposed to the merger of schools founded by missionaries with Muslim schools and vice-versa.  There was also disaffection over the change of single-sex to co-education schools under the policy.

In Benin, which borders Nigeria on the west, the same policy is being run. As in Osun, schools are classified as elementary, middle and high schools. All the schools also wear the same uniforms.  Benin’s was adopted as a national policy following an Educational Forum in 2007. Mrs Laoye-Tomori explained that Osun adopted the policy following recommendations of a summit held in February 2011, which sought the repositioning of the education system such that pupils would enjoy quality education, irrespective of their background.

Benin’s Minister of Education (Secondary) Fructeuex Sylvan, said the country’s policy was adopted because of the interest in creating an egalitarian society where the children of the rich would not have access to quality public education at the expense of the poor.

Like Osun, Benin also faced opposition over the policy, but of a different kind.

Fructeuex said some powerful and rich people wrote to the government to discontinue the policy.

“But the government was resolute to make a success of it by providing equal platform that reduces the gap of human capital development,” he said.

The policy, he said, would last till 2025 before it could be reviewed for continuity or change.

But, Benin did not have problems with religion like Osun.  In Benin,  Fraucteuex said, religion has no place in educational policy neither are religious scholars given any prominence.  There are Christians, Muslims, and adherents of African Traditional Religion throughout the country. Most adherents of the traditional Yoruba religious group are in the south of the country; other African Traditional Religion beliefs could be found in the north. Muslims are mostly concentrated in the north and southeast. Christians are prevalent in the south, particularly in Cotonou, the economic nerve centre of the country.  These religions do not interfere with the education.

But, there are differences in the operation of the policy. Benin’s differs from Osun’s in that at the elementary level, pupils spend six years and not four; four years middle school rather than five; four years in high school as opposed to three. In all, the pupils spend 13 years in primary and secondary schools in Benin the Osun’s 12.

Language of instruction is also different.  In Benin teaching is in local languages, spiced with little or no French as the official language. But, in Osun, like most part of Nigeria, teaching is in English right from the elementary stage.

UNIFORMS

there are, however, similarities in school uniform. According to Director of programmes of the National Radio/Television, Marcelle Brigitie Adelakoun Ipaur Houssou, the practice preceded the 2007 education reforms.

“All schools in Benin Republic since independence wear the same Beninoisie khaki.  While the primary school pupils wear knickers, the secondary school pupils wear trousers. All the students have the badges of their schools on their uniforms. There is no room for the use of any unconventional dress like hijab, beret, etc, in any public school in the country,” she said.

Fructueux said the policy was introduced to achieve equality in the school system.

“The schools started using the same uniforms since independence, thereby creating a level of egalitarian lives among the students. The Government of Benin Republic has made it difficult to distinguish between the child of the rich and the poor. It is this policy that made the government to declared education as free and compulsory in the country since 2007. The rich who want to send their children to private school are free to do so,” he said.

He said the country did not experience crisis as far as uniforms are concerned.  However, he said parents buy the uniforms. In Osun, the government collaborates with a private contractor to produce the uniforms.

“The uniform is bought by the parents but the model of sewing is provided by the Government through the schools as the rules must be followed,” he said.

Osun and Benin also practice free education up to high school.

School feeding

Osun has a robust feeding programme for all its elementary schools which costs N3.6 billion yearly. Mrs Laoye-Tomori said the project started with the feeding of 155,318 Grades 1 to 3 pupils in April, adding that it was expanded to include Grade Four pupils.  By December 2013, she said enrolment had increased by 25 per cent.

“The data presented by the National Bureau of Statistics, by December 2013 shows that the State of Osun has the highest enrolment figure of public primary school pupils in the country,” she said.

In Benin, school feeding is only done in the rural areas to encourage poor parents to send their children to school. This, according to the Minister, led to an upsurge in enrolment of pupils in public schools by 100 per cent.

Reforms: to be or not to be

Given the challenges the education reforms in Osun have faced, the question is whether they should be continued or scrapped.  Educationists who spoke with The Nation favoured the new policy but called for proper implementation.

For Mrs. Foluke Akintunde, a teacher in the state, the reforms are welcome because they have improved school infrastructure.

“As an insider who has put in about 22 years of teaching in various schools across the state, l can authoritatively say that some of the schools were not equipped. If the on-going policy will give a face lift to the poor infrastructural amenities in most of the schools, it is a welcome idea,” she said.

An executive of the All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS) in the state, Mr. Olu Adepegba, says implementation is key.

“The initial inconveniences notwithstanding, if you are expecting better equipped schools, we should support the government so that all what it has on the drawing board would be achieved in not too long a distance. I am sure the policy will open a new window of opportunity for the children of the state who will be educationally equipped to challenge their counterparts anywhere in the world,” he said.

A former Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile- Ife, Prof. Olasupo Ladipo, who hailed the policy said it would enable the government to equip the schools better.

His words “There are too many schools which are not well -equipped. Education is expensive and schools should be well-equipped to enable students have access to quality education.

“There are too many schools which are not well -equipped. Education is expensive and schools should be well-equipped to enable students have access to quality education.”

Osun showcases education transformation at NESG’s summit in Abuja

The deputy governor, who also doubles as the Commissioner for Education, told audience at the 20th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja that the complete overhaul embarked upon was central to the vision of the current administration for a modern Osun State

The Deputy Governor of Osun State, Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, on Wednesday reiterated that the state is poised to achieve a total overhaul of its education sectorin line with global best practices.
The deputy governor, who also doubles as the Commissioner for Education, told audience at the 20th Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja that the complete overhaul embarked upon was central to the vision of the current administration for a modern Osun State.
She said towards the realization of a new face of education, a total of 1,724 classrooms has been completed in the 39 ultra-modern schools in the state.
The Transcorp Hilton venue of the summit, with the theme: “Transforming Education through Partnership for Global Competition,” which kicked off on Tuesday, had in attendance notable stakeholders in the education sector like the Minister for Education, Nyesom Wike; the former Minister for Education, Dr. Obiagele Ezekwesili; and the Vice President of Nigeria, Architect Namadi Sambo, among others.
Laoye-Tomori revealed that aside building structures, government has added 10,407 new teachers to the list of public school teaching staff in Osun.
The deputy governor added that apart from recruitment of qualified teachers, government has designed training programmes, both local and foreign, for public schools teachers.
According to her: “We now have 12,715 teachers in our primary schools and 7,848 teachers in our secondary schools. This amounts to a 54.8 per cent increase in the number of public school teachers we inherited. The same applies to non-teaching staff whose number has also increased by 564.
“What we have brought to education in Osun, if we will not sound immodest, amounts to a revolution. The public schools that we have now in Osun in terms of structure and the quality of teachers can compete favourably with what is obtainable in developed countries.”
The Economic summit group had invited the state to be part of its 20th summit to share the experience of its innovative e-learning device called “Opon Imo” with people across the country.
Earlier at the summit on Tuesday, the Head of the Tablet of Knowledge team, Bambo Bashorun, took the audience on a journey of how Opon Imo was conceived and transformed into reality as well as its impact on the state’s education sector in the last one year of its deployment.
The Osun State Government pioneered the e-learning, which was adjudged one of the first across the world.
The tablet is a device to expose its students to information technology as it is being done in the developed countries of the world, where education has gone digital.
Since its debut in 2013, Opon Imo has won awards both at national and international levels as one of inventions of the 21st century contributed to humanity by Osun State.

Osun season of projects, commissioning

One of the remodelled schools

In the last couples of months, series of infrastructural and developmental projects embarked upon by the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State have been commissioned.

The bulk of these infrastructural projects involve massive road construction and new school buildings under the on-going educational reform in the state.

The administration had on assumption of office on November 27, 2010 made its first charge the completion of various projects initiated by the Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola administration before embarking on fresh ones encompassed in its Six Point Integral Action Plan which is its blue print of actions and programmes.

The administration of Aregbesola also embarked on the rehabilitation and re-construction of most of the roads across the 30 local government councils of the state to engender free flow traffic.

It rehabilitated over 20 intercity roads totalling 319 kilometres, 13 intra-city roads totalling 79.46 kilometres and some selected roads in six administrative zones of the state totalling 74.1 kilometres.

Not done yet, it awarded to contractors the dualisation of Osogbo to Ela-Odo in Kwara State boundary road totalling 43.37 kilometres, dualisation of Gbongan-Orileowu-Ijebu Igbo road, dualization of 30km Akoda-Gbongan road and construction of inter-change bridge as well as Osogbo West Bye Pass Express way named after the former Governor of the defunct Western Region and Ooni of Ife, Oba Adesoji Aderemi among other.

Some selected roads in the state capital, Osogbo, were also rehabilitated totalling 21km, 15km roads in Ilesa and 14km in Ede aside from construction of 229km local government roads spread across all the 31 local government councils including Modakeke Area Office.

Besides, the first aerodrome in the entire West Africa located at Ido-Osun in Egbedore Local Government Council of the state over 90 years ago is being re-constructed into modern airport by the state government. The project will gulp nothing less than N4.5bn. The State Government has further signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with foreign partner for the construction of both helicopter and aeroplane hangars where damaged helicopters and aeroplanes would be hanged for repair. This will be the first of its kind in Nigeria and even in West Africa region.

Under the new school system; the state is targeting building 100 Elementary Schools, 50 Middle Schools and 20 High Schools as first phase and is poised to commit a whopping sum of N30billion to the school infrastructure upgrade under this phase.

The High School will be having facilities such as boarding, staff quarters, standard laboratories, food courts, standard sporting facilities, school hall of 1000minimum sitting capacity and school managers for properfacility management.

As at last count, the state has committed a sum of N14.41billion into school construction of 39 elementary schools, 14 middle schools and 12 high schools while a sum of N1.6billion was expended on renovation of dilapidated and reconstructed schools together with a sum of N2.5billion spent on the purchase of school furniture.

While all these projects were at various completion stages, none of them was commission officially based on the conviction that the current administration to prudently manage the scarcely hard earned resources of the state. The state government was of the belief that the projects are meant for people and that once they are completed; they should be made available for use by the citizens.

But the opposition in the state introduced politics to this conviction by claiming that nothing has been done by the current administration and therefore nothing for it to commission.

The government then changed its style and started commissioning these projects one after the other for people especially those outside Osun to see and know what is going on in the state.

Project commissioning of the current administration started on Wednesday October 2, 2013 with Salvation Army Middle School, Alekunwodo, Osogbo amidst pump and pageantry. It was attended by array of prominent traditional rulers, market men and women, artisans, professional groups, civil societies, parents and teachers and thousands of people.

It also turned the sod of the new Baptist High School in Ejigbo with fanfare around January and later commissioned the Baptist Central Elementary School, Ilare in Ile-Ife on Tuesday February 18, 2014.

The latest commissioning is the state-of-the-art Ansar-udeen (AUD) Government Elementary School, Isale-Osun in Osogbo on Thursday March 14, 2014. It was witnessed by unprecedented crowd including the Ataoja of Osogbo, Oba Olanipekun Larooye.

The school is to accommodate about 1,000 pupils, with 28 classrooms, hall, sickbay, staff room, grassed courtyard, recreational toys, basketball court with an area fitted with swings, and other toys.

But the Director of Communication and Strategy in the office of the Governor, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon emphasised the fact that the commissioning of series of projects now has no political undertone nor due to the criticism mounted by the opposition. He explained the current is not border about the criticism of the opposition in the state describing it as diversionary.

Speaking at the commissioning, Osun State Deputy Governor who is also the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye- Tomori, said that the spate of works done on the schools’ reform in the state have confirmed to the people that the current administration is focused on its’ mission of salvaging the battered education sector as a result of many years of neglect.

She explained that the various reforms are already yielding fruits as indicated in the drastic improvement in the results of public examinations where students from the state now take part in.

According to her, “today, we are witnessing the fulfillment of one of the promises of the governor before he came in. Since the commencement of the reforms programme of this administration, we have built 1,724 classrooms in 39 schools throughout the state and the job continues.

“This government is determined to ensure that there is a level playing field in the education of our children in Osun.

Performing the commissioning, the governor reiterated that the policies and programmes of his administration have been deeply steeped in vision, well-oiled by passion, and firmly backed by action.

He noted that as far as education in Osun is concerned, government is on a mission to develop the greatest asset in nature and the human mind.

The governor stressed that his administration is aware of the fact that leadership is empty without vision and that vision without action will not lead to any transformation and development.

He pointed out that the commissioning of another new model school building is another sign of the administration’s serious intent to completely remake the public education system in the state.

His words, “when I assumed office as the governor of the state, I had a vision of what the future of education in Osun public school should be like. It is a vision that sees our public sector education on a comparable level with what obtains in the most educationally advanced parts of the world.

“It is towards the realisation of this vision that the energy and attention of my government have been resolutely focused. It is a vision that we intend to see through without minding the obstacles in our path.

“This education mission is solely driven by public interest without preference for any private interest, be it religious or otherwise. As I said during the last elementary school commissioning in Ile-Ife, the goal of our education policy is bringing about human advancement and progress, which are desires that are common to all members of the human family.

Aregbesola stressed that the overriding purpose of Osun education policy is to give children what it takes to be masters of their environment, adding that government sees nothing wrong with the policy and that it is the right thing to do.

The governor called on detractors of the education policy to change their mindset, because government is not about to change course.

“In the building of more schools, we will keep on confronting them with the evidence of their futility; and with the accompanying message that they can neither alter our focus nor can they derail our mission.

“For this is one mission we regard as our sacred duty towards our children and their own children that are yet unborn. And we will not fail them. And if only for their sake, we will stick with what we are doing until our mission is accomplished”. He told the gathering.

Osun relishes 1,724 classrooms milestone

With the inauguration of the AUD Elementary School in Isale Osun, Osogbo, last Thursday, the Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, said the government has constructed 1,724 ultra modern classrooms in 39 schools in the state.

The event attracted a large crowd of parents and others in their thousands who wanted a glimpse of the state-of-the-art school that can accommodate about 1,000 pupils.

The school boasts of 28 classrooms, hall, sickbay, staff room, grassed courtyard, basketball court with an area fitted with swings, and recreational toys.

Aregbesola reiterated that the policies and programmes of his administration have been deeply steeped in vision, well-oiled by passion, and firmly backed by action.

He noted that as far as education in Osun is concerned, the government is on a mission to develop the greatest asset in nature and the human mind. He said the inauguration of another new model school is a sign of the administration’s serious intent to completely remake the public education system in the state.

By the time the state is done, the governor said public schools would compare favourably with private schools.

Aregbesola said: “When I assumed office as the governor of the state, I had a vision of what the future of education in Osun public school should be like. It is a vision that sees our public sector education on a comparable level with what obtains in the most educationally advanced parts of the world.

“It is towards the realisation of this vision that the energy and attention of my government have been resolutely focused. It is a vision that we intend to see through without minding the obstacles in our path.

“This education mission is solely driven by public interest without preference for any private interest, be it religious or otherwise. As I said during the last elementary school commissioning in Ile-Ife, the goal of our education policy is bringing about human advancement and progress, which are desires that are common to all members of the human family.”

He emphasised that the education policy mission is driven by public interest without preference for any private interest, be it religious or otherwise. Aregbesola stressed that the overriding purpose of Osun education policy is to give children what it takes to be masters of their environment, adding that government sees nothing wrong with the policy and that it is the right thing to do.

The governor called on detractors of the education policy to change their mindset, because government is not about to change course.

Also speaking, the Deputy Governor, who is also the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, said the spate of works done on the schools reform in the state have confirmed to the people that the current administration is focused on its mission of salvaging the battered education sector as a result of many years of neglect.

“Today, we are witnessing the fulfilment of one of the promises of the governor before he came in. Since the commencement of the reforms programme of this administration, we have built 1,724 classrooms in 39 schools throughout the state. And the job continues this government is determined to ensure that there is a level playing field in the education of our children in Osun,” Tomori said.

We’ll not rest until every Osun school is transformed – Oyeduntan

Otunba Lai Oyeduntan is the Chairman of the two years old Osun Schools’ Infrastructure Development Committee.

Otunba Lai Oyeduntan

In this interview with our Correspondent, Oyeniran Apata he spoke at length on the levels of school upgrades and how the needs assessment and implementation had transformed the school landscape in all corners of the state.

What is the mandate of your committee?

Osun State Infrastructure Development Committee is a committee responsible for the development and upgrade of school infrastructure in the state of Osun. The committee came after the need has been identified of certain policy options to reform school and education sector in the state. It is so because by the time Governor Rauf Aregbesola assumed office, the situation on ground was unacceptable and long before the governor assumed office, he has been associated with the sector. He has had personal experiences that were not particularly encouraging.

Can you give details of the scenario before the intervention?

The percentage of qualified students graduating from Osun secondary schools is so low that in public schools it averages between six and five per cent. That is certainly unacceptable. Performances in both external and internal exams are the only yardstick for measuring efficiency in the school system. For a state like Osun as one of the states where education is very expensive is unacceptable. It will be the irresponsible of the government to ignore it especially having reviewed the sector through the education summit the steps taken in previous years by successive governments to ameliorate the situation.

It was obvious to us after the summit that the intervention in the sector will have to be drastic and comprehensive. There are three factors that are germane to an effective education sector. The pupils must be the main reason for schooling. The pupils therefore must be motivated to want to learn, the teacher that will teach must also be sufficiently encouraged to teach and deliver effectively. All of these must come together in an environment that is conducive for the good mix of teaching and learning.

By 2010, none of those ingredients were in place any more. The pupils are not particularly keen on learning as truancy was the order of the day. The teachers were not well motivated to carry out their assignments. The environment in which all of these were supposed to be taking place was certainly poor and all these are not acceptable at all. Having identified all these imperatives the government set out to tackle them.

Firstly, attempts were made to motivate the students’ through the O’Meal and the phenomena of that alone can be seen in the jump in enrolment in elementary school.

The situation analysis at the beginning of the exercise informed the approach being taken in the re-classification of schools. While looking at what will be the ideal, we discovered several schools with less than 100 pupils with three or four teachers and headmaster or mistress who does not teach. There was no consistency in the whole arrangement between either rural or urban centres. In the urban centres where you have the population, you have schools I, II III which is not in conformity with both teaching and administrative functions. All we have done therefore was to research into best practice all over the world and come with the need to have schools that are of optimum sizes and have maximum facilities that will make teaching and learning more interesting.

In the old primary school, primary I to III are fed. When the food vendors bring the food to the schools the pupils in primary IV, V and VI will not be able to concentrate anymore because their brothers in lower classes are eating and they are going hungry. We discovered that the trend all over the world is to apply science and psychology to the management of the needs of the pupils. The psychological requirements of dealing with a six year old are different with dealing with a 10 year old pupil.

Through this we come to the conclusion that it is better to group the children according to their age group. So six years old to nine year old in grades 1 to 4 are now put in elementary school. Primary 5 and 6 are grouped together with junior secondary school age and high school pupils who are in their late teens are now separated from those in the junior secondary schools. There is nothing extra ordinary about this. Many children in private schools are enrolled in secondary by the time they are nine or ten from primary five. It is just like moving the students who will be in a particular address to the other address where they ordinarily would go in another year. This led to the re-classification of schools and focusing of what the needs are at that level in terms of amenities and facilities appropriate for a given age group.

Having identified the needs driven re-classification exercise, what was the estimation of the infrastructural needs of the system and to what extent has your committee delivered on this?

We recognized the need for a total departure from the routine that is in practice within the system because it was obvious it had failed. The previous government perhaps recognized the need for this same intervention but the enormous amount of money required usually frightens successive governments in the state. We have however come to the conclusion that we cannot run away in tackling the challenges. The governor has demonstrated sufficient political will to address the issues. Even if we have all the monies in this world to address and build all those schools at the same time, the journey of 1000 miles has thus begun with one step by bringing the schools up to what is the trend in modern world.

Education as important as it is should not be treated with levity. We went through a comprehensive data collection and application and came to a conclusion that there is a difference between school in urban centre and in rural areas. Some schools in rural areas may have to remain there even though the population is low but in urban centres, it calls for the optimum size. Elementary school must remain neighourhood schools. That is, the average elementary school pupils should not do more than two kilometers from home in order to get to school. But again it is not difficult for us to achieve. We have not created new schools; we have not moved a school from its location to another. We have only moved the pupils around within the same number of schools, same number of classrooms and for the same purpose.

When you move primary five and six into another school, vacancy is created into which to move primary 1 to four from other schools and vii-a-vis move primaries 1 to four again and that has been the matter of re-allocation of the pupils within the same number of schools there are already in existence. It is not as if the schools were closed down or construction of new schools somewhere else. All the schools we are building are on existing schools.

On estimation until the last school is built and transformed into a functional esthetically purpose built school our job is not done.

When we started we recognized the enormity of task in terms of funding. Having demonstrated the political will we have received substantial supports from outside of the normal government purse. The national assembly caucuses have put their entire constituency projects together and the fund is being diverted to fund education. Through that 12 schools will be affected this year and another 12 next year. All our MDG projects are now focused on education. This is simply because the governor has demonstrated that passion for the restructuring and intervention in forms of reforms that is taking place. They have bought into the project and any donor agency that is coming into the state is encouraged to support us along this thinking more than anywhere else.

In terms of physical appropriation, how much has your committee expended on this mission to rebuild. I am aware of the Baptist school commissioned recently.

That is the first and would not be the last. What I meant by first is that all others are coming about the same time. We started less than two years ago having the desk work of designing approval and securing funding for the project. The first of the elementary school was delivered at Salvation Army School, Alekuwodo, Osogbo. It used to be middle school and you have that type of upgrade when you talk of middle schools. When you talk of numbers we started as funding is available for our contractors to move to site. Therefore the completion date will be staggered. In the next few weeks we should be able to accommodate at least 10,000 elementary school pupils in brand new schools. In the next few weeks we should be able to accommodate middle school pupil about 14,000 in new schools. For this year our attention is now shifting to comprehensive renovations instead of building new schools. Comprehensive renovations suggest that roof ceilings, floor, windows and doors will be replaced to the standard of a brand new school. Some structures will have to be removed to bring back sanity that used to pervade such schools where the standard distribution of structures conforms to layout plans unlike what we have in the past, where blocks of three classrooms are constructed on playgrounds without regard to the esthetics of the schools. This is in recognition of the fact that education for us is not about learning to read and write alone but the need to have a complete man come out of the system. And that complete man must see himself as a major stakeholder in our society. He must appreciate the esthetic decency of the environment that is well beyond the basic functionalities. That is why all our facilities are designed with decency and functionality in mind. The high school is a much bigger school with capacity for 3.000 in the same premises with governance imperative that goes with that number of population. It is meant to encourage the finishing school for the basic education. By the time an average Osun student leaves our high school he or she should not be intimated by any campus or college anywhere because we would have introduced such population and governance that goes with such size of school and functionality esthetics of the environment.

One, when we talk about numbers, you will observed that I didn’t talk about 10 or that number, I went straight to identify the beneficiaries of what we are doing because you track every kobo being spent by the state of Osun to the eventual beneficiaries.

All the sites we have executed we insisted that local vendors and artisans must be patronized first unless such expertise cannot be sourced locally then we look elsewhere. We have deployed about three technologies in the construction models of the schools. We have used light steel model fabrication system where three elementary have been and three high schools will also be built using the system. We have deployed the conventional sand Crete system that is common and we have also used the composite bricks as used by the MDG. All of these were brought in to enhance the accessibility of the state to different methods in construction.

Talking about crowding in school, what are the arrangements put in place to address this problem that is common place in public schools?

We are aware of the so called ratio of 25 to a teacher standard. But if you are coming from a background of having about 80 in a classroom then getting 50 in a classroom would be a record. The target is to achieve 25 and rebuild every classroom in Osun but the reality is that yes we have a school year with 25 full classrooms with each classroom measuring 50 square metres that is the capacity for 50. Before now the same size of classroom is where pupils are crowded. Crowding is not uniform. In rural communities you can have less than 20 in a class. But In urban centres the pressure is on accommodation and that is where our intervention comes in. It is the analysis of the number of pupils to a classroom ratio that informed the need to have a well spaced out purposely designed schools. What used to happen is that because of the pressure of enrolment population, a block of three classrooms are built at any available space thus leading to destruction of playground and even construction of classrooms close to highways.

We have a purpose designed the average capacity of a school is 1,000 from what we have before and we still have some of them with 300, 500 and 60 pupils in primary one to six. That is the kind of range and disparity that we have seen that informed the need to have a controlled approach to the distribution and location of the schools.

What is the distribution of the schools?

We do have an even spread and politically it is even smart to concentrate. You must have political spread because there are constituencies. Every constituency will demand for its share any way. But let us be pragmatic because those schools are there to address a problem and to serve the people. Rural areas may not be able to accommodate the standard size of schools we are building. If am building five schools and I want to accommodate 5,000 pupils, I will go to where the population is thick. Like you have rightly observed that overcrowding usually occurs in urban centres so if this others states if you go back to how they did their own planning they must be trying to reach a large number of pupils within the limited resources available to them. We have here our own statistical background to the planning for the distribution of the schools, the distribution of enrolment, the clusters of population density and where the needs are more pressing. I have a rural school with only 60 pupils from primary one to six all I need to do is to clean it up for them because it does not attract the kind of resources and allocation a school in town with about 1,000 students of 50 in each class. This is pragmatism. But politically speaking even by law you must have spread. When you talk of distribution we are reaching all sections of the state. Presently we are building 14 for elementary and 15 for middle schools.

 Talking about meeting the infrastructural deficit in Osun schools, what is the benchmark for construction to ensure that quality work is done?

We spoke of classification for elementary school pupils from age 6 to 9, middle school pupils from ages 9 to 15 and high school pupils from 15 to 18. We got architects and our brief was quite clear. We have structures that are designed to suit the needs of the respective age groups. Our schools are designed with functionality and esthetics in mind. Functionality is the size of the classrooms, and the spatial arrangement of the buildings that comes with security. Talking about access, control nobody gets into the new schools without being screened and once you are inside you cannot regress from the premises without being attended to and screened. So the average child that comes into school is bound to stay unless authorized to go out. The schools are fenced with controlled entry and exit points. The designs were purpose driven and directed.

The middle school is a story building in U shape and fenced. You cannot drive into the learning arena because there is a parking lot. All visitors and staff of the school access and exists the school through the same points. The elementary schools are neighborhood schools; the middle is a bit further not more than what they used to do in going to grammar schools.  The high school on the other hand is for adults at the age 15 or 16 who able to do a few things by themselves. The high school addresses heavy population centres. In the whole of Ilesa there will be two and in Osogbo there will be three at Olorunda and Ejigbo to absorb the identified high population of high school students. But the issue is by the time am done with this sets of high schools; we will be able to accommodate close to 40,000 students translating to about one third of the high school population.  If the cost of the facilities, the concentration, amenities that will be provided and the governance in place we can them to perform better, we would have increased the fortune of this number of young adults. Rather than trying to please 100 people and getting nowhere why don’t I concentrate on 30 and deliver and end up with 25 per cent performance. Whereas using the mega resources o face 100 was getting 5 per cent. We realize that we must concentrate our efforts on building these building blocks for the future of our society and education.

In totality what are the gains of infrastructural rebirth in Osun schools?

The governor came prepared to focus on education because of the importance of the sector that underpins every aspiration of man and society. A situation where our people start off life with a disadvantage is certainly unacceptable and no responsible government should ignore whatever it takes to effect a change.

The totality of the reform in the education is that the infrastructural enhancement is just but one of the intervention mechanisms. Teachers have been motivated, more teachers have been recruited; arrears of leave bonuses and entitlements have been paid. Teaching in the state has been professionalized. Teachers in the state can now rise to the rank of permanent secretary. The issue is not all about tangibles. The intangibles are even more important than the tangibles. The tangible is the mind and what determines the man himself. His self esteem, his own estimation of self worth, if he sees himself as a significant member of the community of the society he lives in he will strive to make the community better. He would strive to be a good citizen. We have had a lot of rots out that must not continue. So if we have been able to arrest the rot, we can now think and clam for the growth period. Right now, we are at the point of arresting the rot while waiting for the growth to come naturally because the ground has already been prepared. The objective is to bring Osun back to that competitive edge it has as a supplier of critical manpower, quality of human capital within the committee of states and nations. A people that have grown to realize that they potentials and attain that within an enabled environment though we ranked so low in terms of revenue but rank high in the distribution of wealth.

Are the schools with hostel accommodation and safety?

The high school will come with hostel facilities to be run by private developers and individual but superintendent and controlled in terms of quality and standard by the state. People will be encouraged to build hostels for the schools based on set standards so that students coming to high school can stay within the hostel. We have seen the need for hostel because many parents did not know what their children do after 2 in the afternoon when schools have closed until the parents return in the evening. Hostel environment helps to manage and mould these young adults.

The kind of social re-engineering we are doing will reduce extremism to a minimum because hopelessness breeds the kind of extremism that is threatening the unity of the country and our lives. All of these have been taken into account. The size of the courtyard has something to do with safety. In case of emergency there must be sufficient space as muster point.

The size of the school will obviously make it impossible for the school head to manage in terms of emergencies, what we have done is to engage a school manager for each of the school. His responsibility is to ensure the safety of the students’ and facilities. Ensure the school is neatly kept ensure the functionality of facilities available in the school. This responsibility leaves the teachers to concentrate with academics. By the time the schools are in place it our responsibility to let people have the drills in order to be able to recognize danger and at least knock off the alarm in times of emergency. There will be fire drills because what is important under such situation is the reaction time for people to recognize the need to escape to safety in an orderly manner.