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Ondo stakeholders urge review of tuition fees 

By Oluwaseun Akingboye, Akure
30 October 2017   |   4:14 am
Stakeholders at the recent 2017 Education Summit in Ondo State have called for a review of tuition fees.According to a communiqué, 2,000 participants drawn from across the state, submitted: “Government should fund education at the primary school level while parents....

Ondo State governor Rotimi Akeredolu

Stakeholders at the recent 2017 Education Summit in Ondo State have called for a review of tuition fees.According to a communiqué, 2,000 participants drawn from across the state, submitted: “Government should fund education at the primary school level while parents should be responsible for the education of their children at the secondary and tertiary levels. There should be a review of chargeable fees in state’s tertiary institutions, in line with the needs of each school and current economic realities.

“State government, philanthropists, old students associations, PTAs and corporate organisations should embark on aggressive renovation/reconstruction of dilapidated school structures, to make such schools learner friendly. Mega schools in the state should be put into more functional, optimal and better use by government, to address the current state of underutilisation of some of them.”

This was contained in a communiqué posted on the Facebook page of Special Assistant to the Governor on New Media, Mr. Allen Sowore. The two-day event was themed: ‘Repositioning Education for Functionality and Technological Growth’.

While declaring the summit open, Governor Akeredolu queried overdependence on government despite economic downturn in the country.He asked: “Can the resources of state sustain current ostentatious practices such as payment of WAEC fees, free bus shuttle programme, maintenance of over-bloated workforce with no discernible schedules of responsibilities, and duplication of disciplines in our tertiary institutions?

“Should we continue to pretend that education is free at all levels while sundry fees are charged by operators and nothing enters the coffers of the state for maintenance? Should we maintain our mega schools and allow the progressive degeneration of existing structures in our public primary and secondary schools? Should the government return schools to faith-based organisations? In what specific ways should interventions come from civil society organisations?” 

Resource persons at the summit include: Prof. Olukoya Ogen, Prof. Michael Faborode, Prof. Segun Adegbulugbe, Prof. Claudius Daramola, Prof. Bayonle Lamikanra, and Chief Seinde Arogbofa.

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