The Oyo State Government has reiterated on commitment to keep on reducing the number of out-of-school children in the state.
The state Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Salihu Adelabu, said this in an interview on Monday when asked school-age children roaming the roads and motor parks in Ibadan during school hours, begging for alms and not ready to say why they are not in school.
Responding, the commissioner hinted that Governor Seyi Makinde during his first tenure was able to mop up to 20 percent of out-of-school children back to the classrooms.
He, however, said that despite the efforts to do more, the migration of children from other parts of the country had been a major setback.
According to him, most of the children are on the streets hawking and engaging in social vices, saying that ‘in the course of profiling them, they could not be traced to recognised parents or guardians. So, that makes it difficult to take them back to school.
“You may see some in Akinyele today, but don’t be surprised that tomorrow, they may have relocated to the Challenge area,” Adelabu said.
The commissioner however noted that the indigenes amongst them had been complying.
“We are still looking forward to mopping them off the streets and back to classrooms,” he said.
Adelabu said the children were themselves skeptical of education, exhibiting a negative mindset about school, adding that most of their parents had the same negative mindset towards their wards attending school.
He recalled an instance of three girls saying in the presence of their mothers that they were not interested in going to school.
He, however, said the government would continue to invest in infrastructure and facilities, including building model schools to care for all categories of students.
He said the student population had been properly managed with hardly a school in the state having more than 1,500 students
“I can bet, there is none that is up to 2,000 students,” Adelabu said.
He said the state had been involved in recirculation and splitting to give each head of school a manageable size of students and that the state had set up recruitment exercises for its basic and secondary schools.
“About 7,000 teachers and a few caregivers would be recruited to our basic education arm, while about 7,500 teachers and 3,000 non-teaching staff will be recruited at the secondary school level.
“I give kudos to the government of Governor Seyi Makinde on this,” Adelabu said.
Read Also: NDDC harps on establishment of NDCCITMA in Akwa Ibom
