Osun Education/Health: A Deserted Edifice

From ISERH, we sincerely congratulate the present Administration and the entire Indigenes and People of the State of Osun on her 25th Anniversary. We commend the past and present administrations’ efforts towards the development of our darling state.

We decided to write this article to seek the supports of well-meaning Osun indigenes, home and abroad, towards resolving some of the challenges facing the state’s health and education. We can no longer keep mute again as the situation worsens each day. We find it highly imperative to therefore seek the attention of the well-meaning indigenes of the state towards waking this administration from its deep slumber and thereafter offer it a huge support towards the issues raised below.

Never call a man a ‘Learned’ simply because of the schools he attended and the certificates he parades, he becomes a ‘Learned’ when what comes out of him marches his certifications. Similar is the case with the State of Osun. We are all celebrating the age of the state but have we taken our times to march the developments in the state with her age? We have to give kudos to the present and the past administrations of this state in bringing this state to the level of the development it occupies.

Whether AD, PDP or APC-led administrations and even SDP’s and the Military’s, they all contribute their quotas, positively or otherwise, to the present status of the state.
This administration, like the previous ones if not far better, has done a great deal of works in the areas of building and constructions in some selected schools and Health Centers/General Hospitals in the state. We doubt if any past administration can match the records of this present administration in the areas constructions: schools, roads and buildings. This administration’s followers and fans always refer to these remarkable achievements whenever eulogizing the present administration. Indigenes within and outside the state judge the state’s forwardness based on the pictures of schools and health facilities they see. Has anyone asks questions on the Manpower and the necessary Equipments/Facilities needed to making these edifices hubs of activities?

Osun prides herself on having an administration that has constructed several Mega High, Middle and Elementary Schools in the country. Thousands of our people always refer to the following as one of the remarkable achievements of this administration. Although, inadequacy of manpower was evident prior the administration of Oloye Bisi Akande, but Oloye Bisi Akande added salt to the injury of the state’s workforce when he sacked many teachers then. Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola partially fulfilled his campaign promises when he reinstated some of the teachers - although with a touch of political influences.

When this administration came on board, one expected that they would do a thorough finding to knowing where to tackle the educational challenges of the state, but this administration rushed into implementing its preconceived programs on education with little or no focus on the real challenges facing the sector. In 2013, after this administration successfully wooed majority of the state workers to voluntarily retire, it then introduced TESCOM/TEPO for the purpose of recruiting teachers to replace and meet up with the workforce demand, every educationist was optimistic that this administration would get it right and take the state education back to its glorious status.

The unexpected happened when the recruitment was seriously marred with series of issues, despite the fact that each of the applicants paid a sum of N1,500.
If not for the presence of Corps Members in the State of Osun, the state’s education would have completely been shut down. There never exists a school in the State of Osun that has the required number of Teachers for the Subjects it offers. Apart from the mass voluntary retirement witnessed in the year 2013, many of the teachers in the state retired in the last few months while many are still retiring next few months, without any move/plan by the government to recruit for their replacement. Our schools now heavily leverage and depend on the state Corps Members as Subjects’ Teachers. The situation has even worsened to the level of Corps Members serving as Class Teachers.

A visit to the state’s schools on Thursdays, when Corps Members would have gone for CDS and absent from schools, would let you realize the level at which our schools are merely buildings. Extra Curriculum Activities are fixed on these days because the teachers present are never enough to keep the school academics running. Apart from the schools that have been selected for reconstruction as High, Middle and Elementary Schools, the rest suffer serious building fissure, leaking roofs and dilapidated buildings in addition to inadequate teachers.

As Osun is well known for importing people to govern her and hold her administrative posts, must we also import School Curriculum from another state? When will our administrators study and understand the terrain of the state’s education and economy rather than depending on the blueprint of a country-sized state? The interesting part of it is that the schools in the state lack well-equipped laboratories. Many would want to kick against this statement by sighting the fact that the reconstructed or under-construction Mega Schools have/would have. We have to be realistic with ourselves. There is only one Mega High School in Ilesa which is under construction (Ilesa High School). Ogedengbe School of Science can never boast of a Modern Laboratory let alone of a better School Hall – despite the fact that it is a SCIENCE SCHOOL. As if this is not enough, stationeries are no longer supplied to the schools in the required quantity. In the last 4 years, no student in Osun State has ever been given a Report Card - simply because the schools are not supplied with the materials. There were terms when students were asked to bring Exercise Books for the purpose of using it as their Report Cards. There is an inadequate supply or lack of supply of Register Books, Chalks, Stationeries, etc in Osun Schools.

For the past few years, Examination Questions are written on the schools’ chalk boards, unlike what it were used to be then when schools printed Examination Questions. Osun High School Students only get exposed to Printed Questions when they get to SSS 3 while writing Qualifying Examinations. This exposes the reasons why some of these students fail WAEC that is being sponsored by the state government. Majority of these students cannot fill a simple Form on their own without making mistakes.
Whenever you are in the State of Osun, kindly take a trip to any General Hospital or Health Center closer to you. This administration did a great job in renovating some of these Health Facilities but just like Education, Workforce/Manpower is the major challenge. A visit to the General Hospital in Ilesa would make you applaud the present administration consequent to the renovation done to the buildings and the compound, but you would be greatly disappointed to knowing that the Hospital has no single permanent Doctor. If these facilities have the required Manpower and Equipments, little would the pressure be on our Tertiary Health Facilities in the state, like LAUTECH, WESLEY GUIDE, and OAUTHC.

We haven’t written this piece to undermine the efforts of the present administration, but to beam the search light on the areas this government is tremendously failing, for the purpose of doing the needful. We make use of this opportunity to call on the Old Students’ Associations of the Schools in the state to kindly come to the rescue of their various schools in whatever capacity towards solving these challenges and in investing in the future of this state. Kindly remember that these youths are the future of this state and are the greatest determinants of the peace and progress of our darling state.

This is also a clarion call to the present Minister of Health: Prof. Isaac Adewole, an indigene of Osun, and other well-meaning Osun Indigenes to kindly support the state government and the people of Osun State in equipping and staffing these Secondary and Primary Health Facilities in the state, as well as our Schools. The pressure on Tertiary Health Facilities in the state is getting overwhelming while their staff is over stressed. What conceives these secrets is the fact that God in His Mercy has prevented an outbreak of diseases in the state.

This administration has done what every politician-led administration would do by constructing what would be easily seen by all but neglecting what would glorify their efforts and bring results to the people. The simple facts above reveal the bitter truth behind the backwardness of Osun Education and Health, and the reasons for mass examination failure in the state. That is why almost everything to make these sectors work seems ineffective.

With the huge budgeting and spending on education, Osun still occupies the 29th Position. WHAT AN EMPTY EDIFICE!!!
What is your take and suggestions on this? Kindly send your questions, Ways forward and/or comments to our email: info@iserh.org or comment directly under this POST…

Osun A Dara O!!!