Isiaka calls for review of Ogun education policy
Ogun State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Prince Gboyega Nasir Isiaka, has called for a comprehensive review of the education policy in the state.
He said such review which should address multifaceted problems facing the sector should also look into improving the welfare and compensation packages for the teachers.
Isiaka, in a message to the Teachers on the occasion of the celebration of the World Teachers’ Day said he was saddened with the plight of the teachers as enunciated during the event and opined that the only way to address these plights was to review the education policy of the state to protect the rights of the teachers and provide conducive working environment for them.
The investment banker turned politician, who spoke through the Director of Publicity of his campaign organisation, Comrade Ifekayode Akinbode, said “the entire education policy in Ogun State is sick and gravitating towards precipice, if not reviewed”.
According to him, it is not enough for the teachers to call for the reinstatement of their members illegally sacked or describing the construction of the model schools as “misplaced priority” but a decisive action must be taken.
Isiaka observed that the government of Ibikunle Amosun has not only relegated education to the background, but has failed to accord teachers’ welfare the priority it deserved for better performance.
He said: “We have at various times criticised the model schools being built in forests at heart-breaking costs; as responsible opposition, we have suggested to the government that instead of building these schools, our legacy schools that have produced eminent Nigerians, scattered in various towns and villages in the state should be rehabilitated. In fact, all public schools in Ogun State look like piggery of a lazy and poor farmer and one wonders how serious academic works could take place in such ramshackled structures.
“We challenge people to visit their alma mater and see what they had been reduced to, few that wear near-decent looks are at the instance of the Parents Teachers Association (PTAs). Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU) Ago Iwoye has not seen any physical or academic improvement in the last four years and the same thing happens to Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta.
“We cannot but sympathize with teachers and pupils who have been subjected to such inhuman conditions despite various levies imposed on them. And to worsen the matter, the government has chosen not to hear the truth about the rot in the education sector, the reason why some teachers and staff of Ministry of Education were sacked for exposing students to the obvious truth through a comprehension in English Language test”.
Akinbode, however, encouraged them “not to despair as their deliverance in the hand of “Pharaoh” is at hand when dignity of the teachers will not only be restored but the whole education policy will be reviewed to produce products that fit into the challenges of 21st century”.