More photos from the official commissioning of Ansar-Ul-Deen (AUD) Government Elementary School in Isale-Osun, Osogbo, State of Osun on Thursday 13-03-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (3rd left); his Deputy, Mrs
Titi Laoye-Tomori (2nd left); Deputy Speaker, State House of Assembly of
Osun, Honourable Akintunde Adegboye (2nd left) and others, during the
commissioning of Ansar-Ul-Deen (AUD) Government Elementary School in
Isale-Osun, Osogbo, State of Osun on Thursday 13-03-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (3rd left); his Deputy, Mrs
Titi Laoye-Tomori (2nd left); Deputy Speaker, State House of Assembly of
Osun, Honourable Akintunde Adegboye (2nd left) and others, during the
commissioning of Ansar-Ul-Deen (AUD) Government Elementary School in
Isale-Osun, Osogbo, State of Osun on Thursday 13-03-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (2nd right); his Deputy, Mrs
Titi Laoye-Tomori (3rd left); Chairman, State Universal Basic Education
Board (SUBEB), Prince Felic Awofisayo (left); First Headmistress of the
School, Mrs Yahaya Ibironke (right); Second Headmistress of the School, Mrs
Bola Ajala (right) and others, during the commissioning of Ansar-Ul-Deen
(AUD) Government Elementary School in Isale-Osun, Osogbo, State of Osun on
Thursday 13-03-2014

From right, Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; his Deputy, Mrs
Titi Laoye-Tomori; Chairman, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB),
Prince Felic Awofisayo; Deputy Speaker, State House of Assembly of Osun,
Honourable Akintunde Adegboye and others, during the commissioning of
Ansar-Ul-Deen (AUD) Government Elementary School in Isale-Osun, Osogbo,
State of Osun on Thursday 13-03-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (left) addressing the
enthusiastic pupils of Ansar-Ul-Deen (AUD) Government Elementary School
after the commissioning in Isale-Osun, Osogbo, State of Osun on Thursday
13-03-2014

From left, Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Ataoja of
Osogboland, Oba Jimoh Olanipekun and Chairman, Osun School Infrastructure
Committee (O’School), Otunba Lai Oyeduntan, during the commissioning of
Ansar-Ul-Deen (AUD) Government Elementary School in Isale-Osun, Osogbo, State of Osun on Thursday 13-03-2014

Chief Modupe Fagbulu is a seasoned educationist and retired public servant with the Federal Ministry of Education. He was a consultant to UNESCO, recommended and supervised return of schools to government in 1975 across the country.  In this interview with Correspondent Gbenga Faturoti, Fagbulu speaks on re-classification and merger of public schools in Osun State and its effects on the people and students.  Excerpts:

Recently, the government in Osun State introduced the education policy of re-classification and merger. What is your take on that?
Well, I’m an ‘education man’ and I am in a very good position to accept what the Osun State government is doing. I will show you something. The essence of the merging of schools is how to make the schools bigger and more efficient. I’m not hiding anything and I have told you earlier how I merged schools in Ijebu-Ode. It is a good decision for any government to implement.  It is very tactical but has wonderful results if it is properly done and I have no reason to think that it is not properly done in Osun state.
Some say the religious implication of re-classification and merger of schools were not properly looked into; do you share the same view?
On the issue of re-classification, if you have N10 in your left pocket and you have N10 in your right pocket, for convenience, you may want to put them in one pocket. That is what I term re-ordering, which is the same as re-classification but the total amount of money you have is still the same. Re-classification does not necessarily mean re-structuring or changing. It’s like rearranging something together for the purpose of convenience and efficiency and to suit the situation on ground. Re-classification is not a problem really. The consequences are what we are talking about. When you put schools together, you get something different and that is where change takes place. People are objecting based on the religious background, gender and antecedents of these schools.
Firstly, we used to criticise the British as to why they segregate men and women in the past. It is even better for boys and girls to learn together. There is something that happened when I was about eight to nine years old, which I will never forget until I die. There was a girl in my class who used to beat me in class, and that pushed me to try to beat her at all cost. If that can remain in my mind for 50 years, you can see what it was. It can even be a spur, a challenge or an inspiration to one to ensure that a boy or a girl does not do better than the other.  People do not want to see this aspect of it being a challenge to study harder but they are looking at the other side that it can cause distraction; they are talking rubbish. These children will still meet members of the opposite sex right outside the gate of the school, so why separate them when it comes to learning. If you bring up your child properly and emphasise the issue of morality, you shouldn’t be worried about co-education. The foundation should be laid right from the church, the mosque, and the community should instill morals into the children so that the point of immorality does not arise, but if they don’t, the problem of immorality will come up even when they learn separately.
Now on religion, schools do not belong to Christians or Muslims. Any school that receives a kobo from the government, not only here in Osun State, does not belong to any church or any religion at all. Schools belong to the people and the moment public money is spent on the school, it can no longer be denominational. It is against the constitution. You cannot discriminate against one religion or the other. If you want to start your own school, the permission is there; go and start your own school and spend every kobo of your money on it. If it is your school, you can do whatever you like there.  Any school where public money is spent is a public school meant for all irrespective of tribe or religion. And it is government policy that every child in the state has a right to education in any of these schools and cannot be stopped on the grounds of religion.
I was the one who started the movement that the schools should be returned to the government. A school has the right to be on its own and run on its own provided that you meet the conditions, you can stay autonomous. The inspectorate was there and they were doing their work before the government took these schools. They knew the instructions, that if you go to a school, this is what you inspect and report to the government, and if the government comes and finds out that the school is lacking in facilities like toilets, the government can take it over. If your school is built for three years, after three years, we come and inspect it and if it meets our standards, we begin to give you grants and we recommend you to start taking the West African Certificate Examinations. Now this people start schools and they come and start begging for grants even when they have not met these conditions. One of the conditions is that you can’t start a school unless that property is guaranteed to remain a perpetuity forever. You must have perpetuity. So when people come for permission to start a school, the first warning is that the property is in perpetuity, meaning you can’t get up tomorrow and decide that you want to sell it. It is a school forever. Then we can give you grants.
Has that changed?
Now this was done for many years and most of the schools were taking grants. After about 50 years, the government comes to take over the schools and they are asking why the government wants to take over the schools and they started asking for compensation. So we asked them to calculate what was used to build the school and what was spent on the school for the three years before the government took over, and we asked them to deduct it from all the school fees taken from the students and the total grants they have been given over the years. After the calculation, they were owing government, so many of them kept quiet.
What was the main reason for taking over the schools by the government?
The major reason why we took over the schools was that we found that the missions were charging the students high fees despite the money they were being given by the government to support the running of the school and they were still saying that the money was not enough. They were enjoying the rest of the money. We have a school near Ikare run by an Italian as well as two other schools, these three schools had excesses. They said the money was more than enough for the running of the school. So we tried to look at the budget of the other schools because they were asking for a review of the money, saying that it was not enough. These other schools were expanding and building new blocks. They said that the money was more than enough, while some were asking for more and they were not even paying their teachers’ salary. When the teachers went on strike, a committee was set up to look into the case of the teachers.
How was the issue resolved?
We ordered that they should pay the teachers but if they can’t do it, are we going to get up to pay the teachers? It was there that another commission was set up to look into how it can be done, and it was not just for one state, it was the whole Nigeria.  We discovered that they were also not being fair and just with promotions and other benefits on the basis of religion. So we decided that instead of wasting money, it was best for the government to take over the schools. In 1986, I had to leave for my doctorate and another person was appointed to take my place when I left. So that is why we took over the schools; because the religious bodies were not meeting expectations, because we needed to make sure that the teachers get paid their salaries, because we needed to reduce the cost of education and to stop the injustice and unfairness over promotions and other benefits. We entered to stop the mismanagement of funds. They were misbehaving because they felt that they had the right to do what they like with their school, and we decided that the whole thing would stop when the school no longer belonged to them.
Why were the names of those schools retained after the takeover? It possibly gave these bodies the impression that they were still in charge of the schools?
No government which is serious will waste time over the changing of the names of schools. It is of no consequence to us. The teachers were still the same; just that the ownership had changed. Also for the sake of statistics, changing the name of a school that has been registered for over a long time under a particular name would have been complex and could have created confusion for the community and the students.
But do you think what Osun State government is right?
Osun State is not doing something innovative in education. Osun State is doing what is right in education. Don’t get it wrong. Osun State is on the right track. Innovation is what he is doing in the schools but the building is not innovation. It is the right thing to do. That is my opinion. Innovation means something that has not been done before, something original and brand new. By law, the government can put any gender in any school. The government is not restricted by any section of the constitution. The reactions and protests are not relevant at all. The government is trying to sensitise and educate these people on the right thing to do.
Now again on religion, no religious body has any school, which is funded by public money. Now I will take St. Margaret as an example. My father was one of the founders of that school and my sister is even one of the foundation members. Even one of the houses in the school; Fagbenro House, was named after my father. That means I should have a stake there considering all these. But even there and other schools, there must be a provision for Christian religion teachers as well as Islam religion teachers, and they are never to force the students to attend any outside their wall. If you go to Lagos some of the most notable and rich families have children who went to these schools. I have a friend, Durotimi, who went to Lagos Grammar School and at the School Certificate Examinations, he took Christian religious Studies and passed it. After obtaining his degree, he went to St. Andrews in Oyo, a citadel of Christian education in Nigeria to teach. So religion is not and should not be made an issue. I know him personally so I am using that as an example. Going to either Christian or Muslim school is not an issue because it has nothing to do with your religion. You still have your freedom of religion. As far as I’m concerned, Osun State is doing the right thing.
Before now the system education was 6-6-4 and then the Federal Government changed it to 9-3-4 but with the reclassification here in Osun, it is now 4-5-3-4 structure of education. What is the significance of this?
When the Federal Government changed the structure to 9-3-4, why did all these reactions not come up? This re-classification now split the nine years into four and five years and they are complaining. The nine years is still termed basic education and that is what it is. As regards the names, I will advise the government to let them keep their names, whatever it means to them. If I want to marry a woman, who has a son or daughter who is coming to stay in my house, that child will bear my name so long as I am the one to take care of that child. If they remove all the children from Baptist School and take them to Ahmadiyya, they are now students of Ahmadiyya so long as that is the building they are using. It is not a matter of morality, but a simple case of equity and common sense. Let me give you a good example because I am a teacher. If we have Kolawole School and we have Kolapo School, and you take all the children from Kolapo to Kolawole School, you cannot refer to them as Kolapo anymore because they are now in Kolawole School. If you want those children to retain the names of the schools they are coming from, then in Kolawole School, you will be having children from Kolawole School as well as children from Kolapo School. Is that not stupid? You can only alter the name when you bring boys to girls’ school. It becomes Baptist Middle School, no more Baptist Girls High School, because it is no longer a girls’ school.
Now, we have the nursery, primary and secondary school in other states and even Federal Government schools in this state still go with the same structure. But in Osun we now have Basic, Middle and High schools, any implication?
There is nothing wrong with that because the Osun State government has been careful enough to state the age range for each of them, so when the Federal Government asks for the statistics for any grade, Osun State knows the equivalent. What is important is that the grades and the age range are well known and clearly stated. If you look at the education system we have what we call the age profile and if you look at a class statistics, you can tell the average age for that class. If the average age for a grade is eight to nine years old in a school of 100, 50 can be eight years, 10 may be seven year olds and two six-year olds. There might be 20 nine-year olds. It does not mean that they are the only age in the school, there will be a few above and a few below. Osun State has been very careful to state the age range for every grade and I think they are on the right track.
From the look of things, people are not very receptive to this whole idea of re-classification or merger of schools?
I want to assure you that I have no input in what Osun State government is doing. I have education background and experience in Osun State but presently I am not a contributor.
You have talked of the computer tablet called ‘Opon Imo’ and many schools of thought welcomed the idea but some argued that the study of Ifa was included in it and that it might affect the morals of these students and introduce them to idolatry, what is your take?
My name is Ifagbulu. I think we are over-educated and we now take our roots for granted. I have seen the “Opon Imo” but I have not thoroughly looked at it. What is wrong with the study of Ifa? I believe the “Opon Imo” also has the Bible and the Koran, so why the emphasis on Ifa? If anybody wants to learn, let him have education. Let them know about Ifa, the Koran as well as the Bible. These people need to be enlightened in order to objectively assess, criticise and speak about other religions apart from theirs. I am not going into a religious fight with anybody because we are talking of education. I have read the Bible and the Koran and sometimes I ask myself why these people are fighting themselves. Are they crazy? The only thing that differs is that Muslims don’t call Jesus. A lot of things in the Bible are in the Koran, so what are we arguing about? I have a Bible as well as a Koran.
Let them put the Bible, Koran, study of Ifa and everything in the “Opon Imo”. Why can’t we know about our past? If they don’t want to know the past, then there is no point studying history. Let them tell us what is particularly wrong with Ifa. It is all part of knowledge.
DAILY INDEPENDENT

Photos from the just commissioned Ansar-Ul-Deen Government Elementary School. Isale Osun, Osogbo on Thursday 13th of March, 2014

Other pictures shows the area views equippements of just commissioned
Ansar-Ul-Deen Government Elementary School. Isale Osun, Osogbo on
Thursday 13th of March, 2014

Other pictures shows the area views equippements of just commissioned
Ansar-Ul-Deen Government Elementary School. Isale Osun, Osogbo on
Thursday 13th of March, 2014

Other pictures shows the area views equippements of just commissioned
Ansar-Ul-Deen Government Elementary School. Isale Osun, Osogbo on
Thursday 13th of March, 2014

Other pictures shows the area views equippements of just commissioned
Ansar-Ul-Deen Government Elementary School. Isale Osun, Osogbo on
Thursday 13th of March, 2014

Other pictures shows the area views equippements of just commissioned
Ansar-Ul-Deen Government Elementary School. Isale Osun, Osogbo on
Thursday 13th of March, 2014

Other pictures shows the area views equippements of just commissioned
Ansar-Ul-Deen Government Elementary School. Isale Osun, Osogbo on
Thursday 13th of March, 2014

Other pictures shows the area views equippements of just commissioned
Ansar-Ul-Deen Government Elementary School. Isale Osun, Osogbo on
Thursday 13th of March, 2014

Other pictures shows the area views equippements of just commissioned
Ansar-Ul-Deen Government Elementary School. Isale Osun, Osogbo on
Thursday 13th of March, 2014

Other pictures shows the area views equippements of just commissioned
Ansar-Ul-Deen Government Elementary School. Isale Osun, Osogbo on
Thursday 13th of March, 2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola acknowledging cheers
from crowd on his arrival to Commission the completed Ansar-Ul-Deen
(AUD) Government Elementary School in Isale-Osun, Osogbo, State of
Osun on Thursday 13-03-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola acknowledging cheers
from crowd on his arrival to Commission the completed Ansar-Ul-Deen
(AUD) Government Elementary School in Isale-Osun, Osogbo, State of
Osun on Thursday 13-03-2014

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola acknowledging cheers
from crowd on his arrival to Commission the completed Ansar-Ul-Deen
(AUD) Government Elementary School in Isale-Osun, Osogbo, State of
Osun on Thursday 13-03-2014

The ongoing restructuring of the education sector in the State of Osun has been described as a system aimed by the State Governor, Mr. Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola, to produce competent youths that will contribute meaningfully to the development of the state in no distant future and be able to compete favourably with their counterparts from every part of the world.

Deputy Governor and the Commissioner for Education in the State of Osun, Mrs. Grace Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, stated this in her keynote address to participants at a symposium organized by the Government of the State of Osun to address the state’s education programme tagged Symposium on Osun Education Policy in Perspective: Issues, Challenges and Imperatives.

Describing education as not just an ordinary tool meant for knowledge acquisition, but a machinery which will assist in the development of a complete man and help him to contribute meaningfully to his society, Mrs. Laoye-Tomori said the symposium is in tandem with the open door policy of the present administration in the State of Osun which focuses on serving people of the state better.

According to her, the present administration inherited a moribund school system on its assumption of office in November 2010 with virtually nothing on ground to aid teaching and learning in the state’s public primary and secondary schools, teachers’ morale being at its lowest ebb, poor performance of students at both the internal and external examinations culminating in having only three percent of secondary school graduates qualified for admission into tertiary institutions.

Mrs. Laoye-Tomori said the number of elementary school pupils which totalled 155,318 at the introduction of the school feeding programme of the present administration, OMEALS, on April 30, 2012 has since risen to 252,793 as at December 2013.

She said 14.41 billion naira has been committed into the construction of 39 elementary schools, 14 middle schools and 12 high schools across the state, 1.6 billion naira expended on renovation of dilapidated and reconstructed schools together with a sum of 2.5 billion naira spent on the purchase of school furniture.

Mrs. Laoye-Tomori said in an attempt to create a unified identity for elementary, middle and high school pupils in the state and to entrench virtues of Omoluabi among them, the state government freely gave 750,000 school uniforms to them, provided teaching aids in schools with 503 million naira and released a total sum of 856 million naira as running and examination grants to schools adding that Opon Imo (Tablet of Knowledge) has been freely given to 28,000 out of 32,000 pupils.

Speaking on the reduction of school fees in the state owned tertiary institutions, the state Deputy Governor said UNIOSUN fee was reduced from 198,000 naira to 100,000 naira, that of the state’s Polytechnic reduced from 42,000 naira to 25,000 naira while that of the state’s Colleges of Education was reduced from 28,000 naira to 20,000 naira.

In his lecture, Dr. Ayoade Owoade, said the state government’s aim is to give the best to people of the state through the series of its programmes most importantly in the education sector saying the administration of Mr. Rauf Aregbesola is fully focussed on improving on their plights.

He said the administration will stop at nothing to better their lots adding that the administration is God sent to realign their lives. Participants at the symposium were drawn from different media houses across the country.
OSUN NEWS

Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, on Thursday announced that Fakunle Comprehensive High School, Osogbo, will be moved to a new location. He said this at the inauguration of the AUD Elementary School, Osogbo, which was built by the administration.
The FCHS was one of the foremost secondary schools in Osun State but pupils of the school were merged with other public schools. There have been criticisms against the demolition of structures inside the school, which was founded by a Christian cleric. Some of those opposed to the demolition alleged that the governor had sold the land on which the school was built to his associate to build a shopping complex.
He said, “We are moving Fakunle High School to another place. We are moving Fakunle to the Unity High School in front of Osogbo Stadium. “We have nothing against the Fakunle family, you will now see that those who have been saying that Aregbesola is against Fakunle have been peddling lies. We will use the old site of the Fakunle High School for another thing.” He said that the FCHS was moved because the environment around the area, which had almost become a motor park, was no longer conducive for learning.
Aregbesola advised those he called the detractors of his education policy to change, saying his administration would not rescind the policy. He said, “In building more schools, we will keep on confronting them with the evidence of their futility; and with the accompanying message that they cannot alter our focus, neither can they derail our mission.
“For this is one mission we regard as our sacred duty towards our children and their own children yet unborn. And we will not fail them. And if only for their sake, we will stick with what we are doing until our mission is accomplished.
“It is towards the realisation of this vision that the energy and attention of my government have been resolutely focused. It is a vision that we intend to see through without minding the obstacles in our path.”
The Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, said the new education policy introduced by the administration had started yielding positive results. The deputy governor who is also the Commissioner for Education said the brilliant performance of Osun students in public examinations had confirmed that the reform had started impacting positively on the students. She said the spate of works done on the school reform in the state had confirmed to the people that the administration was focused on it’s mission to salvage education.
The deputy governor stated that the decadence which the administration inherited in the education sector was unthinkable. She said, “ The various reforms are already yielding fruits as indicated in the drastic improvement in the results of public examinations where pupils from the state now take part in.
“Today, we are witnessing the fulfilment of one of the promises of the governor before he came in. Since the commencement of the reforms programme of this administration, we have built 1,724 classrooms in 39 schools throughout the state. And the job continues.”
THE PUNCH

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has said leadership is empty without vision, adding that vision without action will not lead to development.
The governor spoke yesterday in Osogbo at the opening of another state-of-the-art elementary school in Isale-Osun.
Residents gathered at the 1,000 pupils-capacity AUD Elementary School to catch a glimpse of its 28 classrooms, hall, sickbay, staff room, grassed courtyard, basketball court and recreational area containing swings and toys.
Aregbesola said his administration’s policies and programmes are “deeply steeped in vision, well-oiled by passion and firmly backed by action”.
He said as far as education in Osun is concerned, the government is on a mission to develop the greatest asset in nature and the human mind.
The governor said: “When I assumed office as governor, I had a vision of what the future of education in Osun public school should be like. It is a vision that sees our public sector education on a comparable level with what obtains in the most educationally advanced parts of the world.
“It is towards the realisation of this vision that the energy and attention of my administration have been resolutely focused. It is a vision that we intend to see through without minding the obstacles in our path.
“This education mission is solely driven by public interest, without preference for any private interest, be it religious or otherwise. As I said during the last elementary school inauguration in Ile-Ife, the goal of our education policy is to bring about human advancement and progress, which are desires that are common to all members of the human family.”
Aregbesola said the overriding purpose of the state’s education policy is to give children what it takes to be masters of their environment, urging critics of the policy to change their mindset.
He said: “In the building of more schools, we will keep on confronting them with the evidence of their futility, and with the accompanying message that they cannot alter our focus, neither can they derail our mission.
“For this is one mission we regard as our sacred duty towards our children and those unborn, and we will not fail them. And if only for their sake, we will stick with what we are doing until our mission is accomplished.”
The Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, who is also the Commissioner for Education, said school reforms have confirmed to the people that the administration is determined to salvage the “battered” education sector.
She said the improvement in the results of pupils in public examinations showed that the reforms are yielding fruits.
Mrs. Laoye-Tomori said: “Today, we are witnessing the fulfillment of one of the governor’s electioneering promises. Since the commencement of the school reforms, we have built 1,724 classrooms in 39 schools across the state and the job continues. This administration is determined to create a level playing field in the education of children in Osun.”
THE NATION

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (middle); his  Ekiti and Ogun States counterparts , Dr. Kayode Fayemi (left) and, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, at Awolowo House, Osun Lodge Abuja, after a meeting yesterday

Osun State government has hinted its desire to make the state self-dependent in revenue generation.
The Acting Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the State Internal Revenue Service, Mr. Dayo Oyebanji, disclosed this while receiving Fidelity Bank team in charge of training in his office.
Oyebanji noted that the feat will be achieved even without increase in tax levies on any tax payer.
According to him, “without increasing tax levies whatsoever on any tax payer, the state of Osun Governor Rauf Aregbesola is now on the pathway to making the state self-dependent as far as revenue generation in the state is concerned.
“Part of the modalities employed to make a wholesome achievement in revenue generation is the engagement of staff, on tax related skill acquisition.”
Meanwhile, the days programme was set to engage Osun Internal Revenue Service (OIRS) Tax Station Managers, day training on more skill acquisition that would prepare them towards realizing increment in internally generated revenue in the state.
Therefore, the step taken on staff training, according to him, was borne out of dear need, to keep them abreast of the contemporary issues that are going on in the domain of revenue generation through the use of Point of Sale Terminal (POS).
DAILY INDEPENDENT