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From Lateef Dada, Osogbo
The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) has called on Governor Ademola Adeleke to reevaluate its approach to tackling the education crisis in Osun State and ensure that the guidelines on teachers’ elongation policy are fully implemented.
The group accused the government of lacking the political will to implement and enforce the policy guideline of teacher elongation, saying that the policy came as a result of the poor academic performance of the students occasioned by inadequate subject teachers in public schools, most especially schools in rural areas.
Speaking at a press conference in Osogbo on Wednesday, the state chairman of the group, Olowu Emmanuel, recalled how the report of the Education Summit led by Professor Oyesoji Aremu in 2023 attested to the dearth of teaching personnel in Osun.
It noted that the Federal Government policy was domesticated in Osun under Governor Adegboyega Oyetola on the 1st of May 2022 where the retirement age/length of service of teachers in the state of Osun was elongated to 65 years of age and 40 years of service, saying that “The simple interpretation of the policy is that if you are to be a beneficiary, you are to return to the classroom as a teacher and not as a principal, Vice Principal, Headmaster or Head Mistress and you have to be medically fit.”
It, however, alleged that most of the current beneficiaries are not medically fit and they do not return to the classroom as teachers which is against the policy guideline, saying “Approximately, the government of Osun State has wasted N837,000,000 million within 20 months of the domestication of the policy which guidelines are yet to be fully implemented and which has no impact on the education and academic performance of the student.
“As of today, the policy has subjected Osun State Government to wasting its economic resources, impeding the career progression of many, encouraging unemployment, wasting the intellectual capacity of fresh graduates, and impeding the student’s academic performance as a result of noncompliance with the policy guideline by the beneficiaries, which is as a result of the laxity of the Head of Service.
“We warn some traditional rulers in the state who have been assuring the beneficiaries and the Teachers Union that the policy will not be fully implemented to stop such acts because students in their domains are also victims of poor education policy.
“Besides, the recent decision of the state government to employ an additional 5000 teachers raises eyebrows. The recruitment falls short of the reported shortage of all subject teachers in our public schools as reported by the Osun 2023 Education Summit which highlighted that 84.5% of schools in Osun State currently lack teachers for all subjects.
“CDHR therefore, calls on the Osun State Government to reevaluate its approach to tackling the education crisis, ensuring that the guidelines on teachers’ elongation policy are fully implemented, and the state should jack up the numbers of teachers it intends to employ to 8000,” the group said.
