From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State said his administration is working assiduously to improve the educational ranking of the state to be among the first three best states in Nigeria, saying within the past three years and six weeks that he became governor, the ranking of the state has jumped from 26th to 11th position in the country.
He made the disclosure when he featured on an interview programme, Guests’ Forum, organised by the Oyo State Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) held in Ibadan, the state capital.
Makinde, who spoke through his Executive Assistant on Administration and General Services, Rev’d Idowu Ogedengbe, noted that since his administration has introduced pragmatic policies that accelerated the rating of the state from 26th to 11th position by the relevant examination body, it would not be difficult to further accelerate the rating for the state to subsequently emerge as first, second or third in Nigeria, based on the unwavering commitment of the government to the educational development of the state.
His words: “When we came on board, the state was ranked 26th. Presently, our ranking has improved significantly to somewhere in the region of 11th. Our desire is to possibly get to a single digit, maybe the first three or the first five in Nigeria. We believe we can, and we’ll continue to show commitment towards the policies driving our educational sector.”
He stated further: “Education is a bedrock of economic development. When we do not have literate people, educated people, there is no way we can develop our economy. So, we as a government, we recognise the pivotal role of having well-educated people.
“The first policy the government came up with was of free education at both primary and secondary levels. Students were initially paying N3,000 on an annual basis. Even, as low as the amount is, quite a number of parents could not afford it.  You would see school-age children on the street. When you asked them why they were not in school, they would tell you that their parents could not pay their school fees.
“When Governor Makinde discovered that the fee was an impediment to pupils’ enrollment in schools, he decided to to stop it, to relieve parents of that burden. We also discovered that we need to build more schools to accommodate the rising population of pupils. We have built in excess of 50 schools, since we came into office.
“We also ensured that we support our students with relevant educational materials, such as school books – textbooks and exercise books. We have been doing that for over three years. We also provide extra-mural classes for our students in SSIII that are about writing WAEC exams.
“We recruited 5,000 teacher under the Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM). We also recruited additional 600 teachers. So, we have been able to improve the quality of learning in our schools because when you have students that are willing to learn, but they don’t have teachers that are available and ready to impart knowledge, then there is a gap.
“So, our vision is connected to enhancing the number of educated people that we have in Oyo State. These efforts have paid off when you look at some of the results that we are getting. The effects of all these have led to improvement in the rating of Oyo State educationally.”