Group urges support to rejuvenate education in Oyo State

A socio-cultural group, Oyo Development Initiative (ODI) has tasked stakeholders in the education sector to rally round and save it from further degeneration.

Addressing reporters recently in Ibadan at the end of its monthly meeting, the group stated that the efforts of Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s administration towards overhauling the sector should be commended, adding that that the Education Reform Committee’s report clearly exposed the rot in the sector.

According to the group’s coordinator, Dr. Adesola Okanlawon, it is imperative to overhaul the education sector for excellent productivity. He therefore, appealed to all stakeholders to join hands with the government in revamping the sector.

“The state of our education is saddening, it is so unfortunate that we are in dire need of restructuring to save the ailing sector. We did not know that the situation was so bad until the reform committee submitted its report, and made public it highlights. After this, we went to some schools on our own and what we met was a sorry state,” Okanlawon stated.

He continued, “Education needs restructuring in the state and all stakeholders must have inputs into the process, both financially and intellectually. We should stop deceiving ourselves about government doing it alone. The rot is overwhelming and we all need to support the government.

“We believe there must be support from groups, individuals, PTAs and corporate organisations towards restoring the lost glory of education in the state. We are the pacesetters and we must set the pace again. We appeal to genuine lovers and supporters of education not to relent, and seek for the understanding of all and sundry to ensure that we improve the standard of education in Oyo State. We urge the government to create the enabling environment for stakeholders to offer useful support,” the coordinator added.

The group noted that the reduction in the subvention to tertiary institutions in the state to 25 per cent at this particular time was inevitable due to the nation’s ailing economy, and tasked management of tertiary institutions to think out of the box and diversify to meet up with their expenditure while not creating hardship for the people.