‘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.”