Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State has identified many systemic failures as the bane of educational development of the state, saying his administration has been taking pragmatic steps to reengineer the systems for optimum performances.

He disclosed this on Wednesday when he commissioned a N50million multipurpose hall built for Ilora Baptist Grammar School by an old student of the school, Mr. Remi Oyekola.

Makinde, who said politicians like patching things up to show the public that things are happening without getting to the roots and solve the problems headlong, promised that his administration would never indulge in patching things up to deceive the people of the state.

According to him, “We all know that education in Oyo State has experienced many systemic failures. As an administration, we are focused on dealing with these failures by re-engineering processes. The thing is, reengineering processes take longer than patching it up. Politicians like the patching up because it looks good for the cameras.

“Also, the people want to see things happening. It is definitely good to see things happening. But it is better to reengineer the process while doing things that people can see.”

He warned those with intention of sabotaging his administration’s efforts at repositioning the education sector, to have a rethink or face the consequences of their actions when caught. He also frowned at the activities of some unknown persons that burnt down a public school structure in Ibadan on Monday and stealing of laboratory equipment in some other schools.

Makinde noted that the re-engineering efforts of his administration has started yielding positive results as the creation of an enabling environment in the education sector has attracted over 3,000 applications for transfer of studentship from different states to Oyo State public schools.

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“The influx of students into public schools as a result of the cancelation of fees and ongoing improvement of learning facilities in state-owned schools has two major effects, which we have pre-empted: First, there is an increased pressure on facilities. There is a limit to the number of students that can be accommodated in existing public schools.

“So, the process of construction and renovation which we have started will continue. The good thing is, we can access UBEC funds because our administration has made it a priority to always provide the counterpart funding as required by law. So this helps to ease the burden of building.

“The second effect of the ongoing transfers from private to public schools is that the shortage of teachers is even more evident. Before, we took office, there was already a shortage of teachers. A quick solution to that problem was the creation of PTA teachers. Even then, schools still had a shortage of teachers. However, it was clear to us that sub charging parents to fund recruitment of teachers is not a sustainable solution. Challenges on the issue of PTA teachers and our no levies policy are currently being resolved.

“To effectively resolve the issue of shortage of teachers, we cannot take any short cuts. We need to get to the root of the problem. This involves getting the necessary data: How many teachers do we need per school, what should be the subject matter specialisation of these teachers.

“These sound like easy issues to tackle and these data should have been collected in the shortest possible time. But there have been bottlenecks. I have spoken in the past about how the wage bill of Oyo State grew by N1billion between March when we won the election and May 29 when we were sworn in. Data is an enemy to corrupt practices. And so getting the data is taking longer than expected as everything needs to be checked and rechecked.

“But, I can assure you that we are on top of the matter. As I speak to you, the process of teacher recruitment has begun. The next thing you will see is the result. We are determined to put an end to the recurring teacher problem in Oyo State public schools. And so help us God, it will be done.

“We are doing our part to move education in Oyo State forward. We encourage you to use the communication channels provided by the Oyo State Ministry of Education, and for those of you who use social media, the pages and handles of Oyo State to give feedback on the progress of the work in your communities. And whatever is not going as scheduled, please report to us. We are a listening government and we will always respond to your feedback,” Makinde said.

Makinde, however, promised to strengthen the School Governing Board (SGB), saying: ”The school principal can spend up to N20,000 without approval while money above N20,000 to N200, 000, must get the approval of the finance committee of such school board. But any money above N200,000 must get the approval of the entire SGB, and there would be auditing for the accounts.”