THE Technical Committee to revitalise Basic and Secondary Education in Yobe State has submitted its interim reports to Governor Mai Mala Buni with shocking revelation on the state of education.

Some of the revelations made by the committee are lack of infrastructure in the primary and secondary schools, leading to overcrowding where 180 students seat on the floor and log of woods as improvised seats in the classrooms.

The committee said the gross deficit in the number of functional classrooms in primary and secondary schools represents 70 per cent.

The committee chairman and former University of Maiduguri Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Mala Daura, while presenting the report to Buni at the Government House, Damaturu, yesterday, said the committee visited 1,439 primary, junior and senior secondary schools to carry out their baseline survey.

He added that a few schools in difficult terrains such as Yunusari, Tarmuwa, Gujba and other places were inaccessible for the survey.

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Prof. Daura added that inadequacies in the quality of teachers at the basic and secondary school levels, political interference in the recruitment process, promotion, posting and rampant transfers of teachers affected the quality of education.

The committee discovered an existing leadership, supervision and monitoring as well as capacity-building system for teachers. It, however, noted that the system was weak and needed to be strengthened to be more effective.

The committee noted that there was a general enrolment outlook of 60 per cent of eligible pupils/students in the state.

It, however, noted a high proportion of 40 per cent that is out-of-school.

It added that the teaching and learning environment in the urban setting and local government headquarters were overstretched.

According to Daura, the rural areas maintain poor enrolment and retention level. This, he observed, is aggravated by the decline in the involvement of traditional rulers as well as the Boko Haram insurgency.

The committee also frowned at the unstructured state of the Tsangaya /Quranic Schools in the state, which has become a dumping ground for the pupils both within and from outside the state. It emphasised the need for the regulation of the sector.

Daura made five recommendations.

Buni praised the members of the committee for working tirelessly within the time-frame given to them to perform their task.

The governor promised full implementation of the recommendations of the committee within the available resources.

Buni had on May 29, 2019, in his inaugural address to the state, declared a state of emergency on education.

Consequently, an education summit was convened on the July 1 to 2, to brainstorm on the way forward with the appointment of Prof. Mala Daura to head the technical committee to revitalise the state’s basic and secondary education.

Chairman of Yaba Local Council Development Authority (LCDA) Kayode Adejare Omiyale has reiterated that education remains the best agent for liberation which would help people serve as agent of development.

He spoke at the distribution of free GCE forms to pupils in the council. Omiyale was represented by the Vice Chairman, Nurudeen AIleru.

House Leader Solomon Gbinigie admonished the pupils to study hard to come out successfully. “There is no shortcut to success; you must operate with determination, dedication and hard work. You must study hard if you must possess the necessary requirements to secure admission into the higher institution of their choice.”

Council Manager Mrs. Kemi Adefowokan advised the pupils to be good ambassadors of Yaba LCDA by fleeing from crime.

HOD of Education Mr. Duro Akinola implored the beneficiaries to consider themselves lucky because some brilliant ones who could not afford the cost of GCE forms had lost opportunities to advance in their studies

THE Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile – Ife has said that Opeyemi Dara, the 400-Level student who committed suicide, was not doing poorly academically.

In a statement signed by the University Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Olarewaju, on the death, the university noted that Opeyemi’s Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA), which was 2.68, was on the Second Class Lower (2.2) band and could not be said to be poor academically, contrary to claims that she committed suicide because of poor grades.

The statement also noted that Opeyemi had no outstanding course to write and was only preparing to submit her final year project as a student of the English Department.

The statement reads: “The authorities of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile – Ife, will like to commiserate with the parents, guardians, colleagues, friends and well-wishers of late Opeyemi Dara, a part four student of the Department of English, who was said to have committed suicide allegedly because of poor academic performance.  The authorities of the university would, however, like to use this medium to put the records straight.

Read Also: OAU student commits suicide over poor academic performance

“Miss Dara is on a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 2.68, which qualified her, at least, to be an average student on a 2 – 2 class of grade. It is, therefore, our firm belief that a student, who was on Second Class ((Lower Division), cannot be said to be poor academically, talk less of committing suicide because of such. In actual fact, Opeyemi Dara did not have any outstanding course, except her project, which she was yet to submit. The project could not have been a challenge to her because she had authored two books – ‘Heels on Steel’ (a play) and ‘ Let Me Run Mad Today (a poem) both published by the Words Rhymes and Rhythm Limited (www.wrr.ng).

“Opeyemi Dara was admitted into the university in the 2014/2015 academic session and her graduating year result (2017/2018) indicates that she had passed all the Departmental courses, except. Research Method and Project (EGL 420).  She had not submitted any essay for grading, which is understandable by virtue of her encounter of April 22 and the fact that she had not reported in the university since then.

”Opeyemi Dara, who resides off-campus, allegedly first took the Sniper on April 22, 2019, but the security unit of the university, on getting the information, went to her house, took her first to the University Health Centre, where she was referred to the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex (OAUTHC).  She was treated and discharged home to her parents. She was said to have been brought in by the parents and readmitted at the Intensive Care Unit of the OAUTHC on Thursday, August 1, and she unfortunately died the next day.  There are indications that she had an underlying medical condition.

“The Obafemi Awolowo University has a very robust Student Advisory System, which has been in place for decades, and the university has the highest number of dedicated Guidance Counsellors of any university in Nigeria.

“The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Eyitope Ogunbodede, has appealed to all staff and students of the university to take advantage of the mechanisms put in place by the university administration in addressing all academic, social, medical and other challenges.  All youths are advised never to see suicide as an option, since tough times do not last, but are only passing phases in the lives of all mortals.”

THE Oyo State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) has warned the public to be wary of individuals going around extorting money from people with the claim that the board was recruiting.

Its Chairman, Dr. Nureni Adeniran, who gave the warning while interacting with reporters in his office in Ibadan yesterday, said many people have contacted him and those close to him on the purported recruitment.

According to him, parents, guardians and potential job-seekers should be careful so as not to fall into the hands of the unscrupulous elements that were poised to dupe them in the guise of selling employment forms and assisting in getting jobs.

Adeniran said: “Oyo State Government’s attention has been drawn to activities of syndicates extorting money from unsuspecting members of the public under the guise of recruitment in the teaching services of the state. Please disregard such information, as it is false and misleading.

“We are using this medium to call on the general public, especially parents, guardians as well as our young job-seekers not to fall victims of these fraudsters.”

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As efforts were ongoing to track and apprehend the fraudsters, he called on the public not to fall victim of their antics under the guise of public recruitment as the present administration was not recruiting.

Adeniran said the necessary medium of relating with the public would be used whenever there would be need for recruitment.

“We would be transparent in our operations and make any recruitment exercise known to the public, through legitimate means whenever the state will be recruiting.

“Oyo State Government will announce this, when the time comes. We would be transparent in our operations and make any recruitment exercise known to the public, through legitimate means,” he added.