Osun Govt proposes budget to tackle out of school children
The Osun Commissioner for Education, Mr Eluwole Adedipo, has described as worrisome to government the high number of out of school students in the state.
Adedipo disclosed this on Tuesday in Osogbo during the defence of his ministry’s proposed budget for 2024 before the Joint Committee on Finance and Appropriation of the Osun House of Assembly.
He said that Osun now has the highest number of out of school students in the South-West because many parents find it difficult to send their wards/children to school.
He made the statement while highlighting the numerous challenges the education sector was facing in Osun.
The commissioner blamed the policies of previous administrations in the state for the woes that affected the education sector.
According to him, mega schools constructed by a previous administration led to several schools being subsumed into one.
He said that this forced some students to drop out of school because of unavailable funds and logistics to get to locations of the new schools.
The commissioner also identified a serious shortage of qualified teachers as another major challenge in the sector, stressing the need to employ more teachers.
Chairman, House Committee on Finance and Appropriation, Osun Assembly, Mr Saheed Fatunmise, who chaired the Joint Committees on budget and defence, advised the commissioner to conduct the teachers’ recruitment exercise based on merit.
Fatunmise said he has confidence in the ability and capacity of the commissioner and therefore employed him to deploy his expertise to turn around the state education sector, so Osun can regain its lost glory.
It was learnt that MDAs that appeared for budget defence included: Ministry of Education, Osun Mass Education Agency, Osun Central Education District Office, Ila Orangun, Osun East Education District Office, Ile-Ife.
Others were Osun West Education District Office, Ikire; Osun State Senior Secondary Education Board, Osun State Library Board, Osun State Examinations Board, Board for Technical and Vocational Education, and Osun State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB),
Also at the budget presentation and defence were the state Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Ministry of Innovation, Science, Technology and Digital Economy.
