Re-Merger of schools in Oyo State - Who doesn't want it?

From around 570 secondary schools in Oyo State, the number rose sharply during the administration of former governor, Rashidi Ladoja, to more than 900.

The governor, who was voted into power in 2003, seized the opportunity to establish popularity with the teachers, by creating more schools from the existing ones and promoting some of the teachers to become principals and vice-principals.

It had no cost as the administration did not build new classrooms on new lands. It only used the existing structures to expand the schools, hinging its action on the then Federal Government policy on education, which recommended division of existing secondary schools to reduce the number of pupils in one school.

But the present administration headed by Governor Abiola Ajimobi is adopting a new policy which is a direct opposite of what was once used in the state. Like Ladoja, Ajimobi was also acting on another FG’s policy, but which reversed its earlier principle on secondary school education with the introduction of articulation, re-articulation and de-articulation policies.

The articulation policy merged all the new schools with the existing ones from where they were created. The re-articulation policy recognised that only the junior schools would be created and granted autonomy, which meant that the various arms of senior and junior schools created would be scrapped, while de-articulation policy also merged all the new schools with the existing ones.

The state adopted re-articulation policy, which means that some of those who were promoted to head the newly created schools by Ladoja could lose their status under the new education policy adopted by the state.

“The FG policy gave autonomy to junior secondary school and other schools created from the existing ones and many of us were beneficiaries,” said Adeniran.

“It means that within a secondary school, five or six more schools could be created, so there were more principals and vice-principals. Before then, few teachers assumed principal’s position even if they were qualified. This is because the position was subject to vacancy. If a principal did not retire, other qualified officers would not climb the ladder. Ladoja adopted the policy but that was because he chose to, otherwise, he could stick with the old policy because some states did not follow the Federal Government policy. We have been asked to hand over to the principal of the senior school but that dented our ego and morale as equally senior officers. It makes us interim heads of the schools that will soon be scrapped and we now take instructions from our colleagues who are lucky to be senior school principals. Even before we are removed, our autonomy has been swept away by the new policy,” added Adeniran.

http://www.punchng.com/feature/controversy-surrounds-merger-of-schools-in-oyo-state/

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