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Aregbesola names school in honour of Soyinka

By Tunji Omofoye, Osogbo
24 November 2015   |   2:31 am
The Governor of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola yesterday inaugurated Government High School in Ejigbo named in honour of the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka

Soyinka,_WoleThe Governor of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola yesterday inaugurated Government High School in Ejigbo named in honour of the Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka
 
The new school said to have gulped N750 milliom was the first of its category in the mega schools series under the education reform programme of the state government.

The Nobel Laureate described the school as an emphatic rejection of what the Boko Haram insurgents preach; describing the situation in which the country till date could not account for the missing Chibok girls as shameful.

The school is a 3,000-students capacity complex with 72 classrooms of 49 square-meters, each capable of sitting 49 students and has six offices for study groups.

It is also equipped with six laboratories, 18 toilets for ladies and 18 others for gentlemen, one science library, one Arts library, facility manager’s office, a bookshop and a sick bay. 
 
Soyinka enjoined leaders in the country to ensure that children are brought up with a feeling that one religion is not superior to the other.

He stated that all hands must be on deck to see to it that children in schools are not differentiated along religious line for a better Nigeria.

Soyinka commended Aregbesola for doing a great job with the construction of the school, saying he is elated that such honour is bestowed on him, pledging that he will not hesitate to frequent the school to see how it is faring.

He said, “it is a shame that the nation can not account for over 200 girls in Chibok, I  sympathise with the religious policy of governments in schools, children must not be brought up with a feeling that religion inhibits knowledge.

“In schools, we need not distinguish our children, the fatalistic religious holiness and the holier than thou attitude must be reduced among our student‎s”. The Nobel Laureate stated.

The Governor earlier stated that the cost of the High school though huge, considering the lean resources of the state is an investment worth it. 

‎Aregbesola said that within the first quarter of next year his government would also commission for use another set of schools in the same category.

He stressed that no government can overspend on the education of the people, saying ‎education is human development and primary way any family can get a lasting benefit from government. 

‎The Governor noted that one of his first acts in office after inauguration in 2010 was to hold an education summit chaired by Prof Wole Soyinka, adding that the rehabilitation of schools and construction of new ones were derived from the outcome of the summit. 

Aregbesola averred that It is befitting that Osun named the school after Prof Wole Soyinka who he described as an excellent product of public education in Nigeria and a distinguished academic who brought honour to Yorubaland, Nigeria, Africa and the black race with his Nobel Prize in Literature in 1986.

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