OSUN EDUCATION MOVED FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT UNDER AREGBESOLA

Former Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State changed the school curriculum from studying to acquire certificates to studying to acquire knowledge and skills. This is the basis of the educational reforms in the state. Before Aregbesola’s reform, students were studying mainly to obtain certificates rather than to acquire knowledge and skills. This is how Osun education moved from darkness to light.

Aregbesola remains the only governor in the entire South West who initiated educational policy and builds superb structures and completed same on time. Before Aregbesola left office, he built 20 elementary schools and 22 middle schools. Each school has a capacity for 1,000 students. Eleven high schools were built by the same Aregbesola with each of these schools having the capacity for 3,000 students, science lab and computer hub see www.raufaregbesolasukukcentre.com.ng. Which of the South West states did that during the period in question? If the current administration in Osun could introduce policy reversal in education, is it possible that these standard schools will be demolished to accommodate those coming from moon all in a bid to paint Aregbesola with a tar brush?  Aregbesola educational policy was politically reversed not because it failed to achieve desired results but as part of premeditated agenda to gradually erode the Aregbesola legacies. Aregbesola has boost the histories and traditions of Osun education by embarking upon schools reclassification, merger of schools as well as single uniform for all public schools among others to help the children of the poor people.

Rauf Aregbesola’s Government was totally committed to unlocking the latent potentials of Osun people. These were the words Aregbesola used in his booklet, ‘’MY PACT with the people of the state of osun’’, which contained his ‘’Six–Point Integral Action Plan’’ which was presented to the people of Osun during his electioneering campaign in year 2007.

‘’Promote Functional Education” is the fifth action plan in this document with the vision to ‘’eradicate the frustration of youths caused by education that does not lead to employment.’’

The modern, state of the art, world class infrastructure built by Aregbesola for the Elementary, Middle and High Schools have been applauded and commended by all commentators including even his detractors, as bold, unprecedented efforts to move education in Osun from darkness to light. Not being able to defend the neglect and incompetence demonstrated in the seven years before Aregbesola, the detractors have continued to attempt to deceive and hoodwink the society by deliberately parading and spreading false, unsubstantiated ,information that is not backed up by any credible evidence.

As at November, 2010 when Aregbesola retrieved his mandate to govern the state of Osun, the situation in the Education Sector of Osun was marked with poor, dysfunctional, appalling, learning and teaching infrastructure across the State, non availability of adequate instructional materials, low morale of teachers, roughly dressed and malnourished pupils, poor monitoring and evaluation, low quality and dysfunctional Basic and Senior Secondary Education.

All of these were crowned with very poor performance of students in internal and external examinations. In order to address the challenges, an Education Summit was held in February, 2011. A blueprint for the Education Sector was producedfrom which radical and comprehensive policies and programmes were designed.Government has since been implementing the blueprint.

The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu in 2018 said that the intervention of Governor Rauf Aregbesola in the education sector in Osun state has helped to secure the future of the state. The Minister stated this in Ikire, Osun State shortly after joining the former governor to commission the 3,000 students’ capacity ultra modern Ayedaade Government High school, Ikire. According to him, the education policies of Osun are in tandem with that of the federal government which aims at improving school enrolment. Adamu who noted that Aregbesola has turned the state into a true metropolitan state emphasised that what the administration of the present government has done in the education sector is more than that of any state. He said the construction of modern school structures around the state coupled with the school Feeding programme of the state is capable of getting out of school children back to school just like the federal ministry of education has been clamouring for.

The Minister explained that Aregbesola was steering the ship of the state to achieving meaningful growth and development through various policies aimed at improving the state’s education sector, stressing that any state that gets the education sector right is on the path to development.

To ensure the truth is told and records are straightened for all to know, so that the public will no longer be misled by the shameless, who have no inhibitions in deliberately spreading falsehood, the Ministry of Education applied to West African Examinations Council to officially furnish Osun State with performance results from 2006 to 2017 in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE). The results, official from WAEC, show that the best performance by students in Osun,for those with five credits including English and Mathematics,in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE), in the five years before Aregbesola was 15.68 %. With the focussed, deliberate and purposeful intervention of the Government led by Aregbesola in the Education Sector, the State has achieved 284% improvement in the performance of students in same examinations from 15.68% in 2010 to 44.47% in 2017 examinations.

Not good enough yet, but it is a pointer to a better future based on the foundation laid by Aregbesola which should be allowed to germinate to fruition with continuity, by those who share his vision. It is a deep understanding of the flaw in the philosophy and foundation of our education that differentiates the government of Aregbesola from many of its predecessors.

For Aregbesola, an educated man must be a true Omoluabi – ‘’Honest, Courageous, Rational. A cultural icon with Character, truly Yoruba (truly African,fluent in his/her mother tongue), International ( comfortable in one or more international languages), Critical and Creative thinking, Knowledge – seeking, Productive, Problem- solving, Respects laws, rules and rights of others, Thrifty and Investing, Collaborative, Time Conscious, Responsible.’’

The vision of Aregbeola’s government is to make Osun schools, ‘’world class schools’’ that produce confident, matriculate-able students who are first class scholars, cultural icons and models of good character, innovation and competence – the true Omoluabi.  They will compete well with their counterparts anywhere in the world, excel and transform the African society positively. Aregbesola‘s vision of functional Education that will help every child to find his/her purpose in life as an Omoluabi, irrespective of circumstances of birth is the path from darkness to light for our society.

State of Osun Students’ Performance in WASSCE 2006-2017

STATE OF OSUN EDUCATION INFRASTRUCTURE

Radical and comprehensive policies and programmes which Aregbesola carried out include:

–         Decentralisation of school administration and management through                               creation of three Education Districts and Establishment of Teachers’                Establishment and Pension Office (TEPO) for more effective monitoring

These are headed by Tutor Generals/ Permanent Secretaries.

–         Further Decentralisation by creation of nine Basic education zones

headed by Head Master Generals/ Permanent Secretaries

–         School re-classification into Elementary, Middle and High Schools for

improved management efficiency.

–         Osun School Feeding and Health Programme (O-Meals);The world

acclaimed programme being replicated nationwide.

O-Meals has served more than 300,000,000 meals in last 6 years.

–         Employment, training, re-training and promotion of teachers;

–         Supply of Computer tablets (Opon Imo) to High School Students;

–         Supply of science laboratory materials to all high schools

–         Supply of 750,000 new school uniforms;

–         Training and Capacity Development for Principals andTeachers

–         Engagement and deployment of over 15,000 Teachers

–         Distribution of Omoluabi Scholar Buses to designated schools/centres in                            the State;

–         Introduction of Calisthenics to the students with state wide training

–         Distribution of talking-pens to pupils in Elementary Schools;

–         School Infrastructure Development and upgrade;

–         Rehabilitation of dilapidated buildings in schools;

–         Construction of a number of state-of-the-arts school buildings with modern facilities to provide environment, conducive for teaching and learning in schools with the following:

• 20 Elementary Schools with 500 standard classroom
• 30 Middle Schools with 775 standard classrooms
• 11 High Schools with 792 standard classrooms
• Upgrade and renovation of more than 2000 classrooms in old schools
• Providing modern conducive classrooms for more than 200,000 students

–         Implementation of Government white papers on discipline and                                       enhancement of students’ performance in schools;

–         Establishment of Quality Assurance and Morality Enforcement Agency

and deployment of Education Marshals  which has led to substantial

reduction in moral decadence and indiscipline

–         Establishment of Omoluabi Education Services Ltd with an   independent

Board and Management toadminister The Eleven High Schools.

–         Engagement of school Administrators with Private Sector Experience in

Education and Universities (OAU, Uniosun) for the High Schools

–         Development of a Medium Term Sector Strategy for Education

Inwalomhe Donald writes from Osogbo, Osun State