Oyo orders re-opening of public schools

Keeps 17 others shut

The Oyo state Government yesterday ordered the re-opening of secondary schools for today, a month after their closure.

Governor Abiola Ajimobi had shut down the institutions following a ‘violent protest and wanton destruction of government property’ by aggrieved students protesting the planned privatisation of some of the schools by the state government.

Addressing reporters on the development, the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Toye Arulogun, said following several representations by the Parents Teachers Associations (PTAs), community leaders, traditional rulers, prominent and well-meaning Nigerians at home and abroad, government decided to reopen the schools.

Arulogun, however, pointed out that the 17 schools that participated in the protest remained shut.

The affected schools, according to him, include Baptist Secondary School, Senior and Junior, Oke-Ado, Ibadan; Ansarudeen Secondary School, Liberty, Ibadan; Ansarudeen High School, Liberty, Ibadan; Ibadan Grammar School, Senior and Junior, Molete, Ibadan; Olubi Memorial Grammar School, Molete, Ibadan; St. Luke Grammar School, Senior and Junior, Molete, Ibadan; St. Luke College, Molete, Ibadan and Yejide Girls Grammar School, Molete, Ibadan.