Ondo govt denies plans to stop free education

THE Ondo State government, on Monday, denied plans to increase the tuition fees of tertiary institutions in the state or plan to abolished free education in the state.

This was contained in a statement issued and signed by the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr Yemi Olowolabi, who explained that the state has not taken any decision on the outcome of the recently concluded Education Summit in the state.

According to Olowolabi, the summit was organised to address and reposition the education sector in Ondo State in order to make education more functional in the state.

He, however, said that the communique issued at the end of the summit should not be seen as the position of the state government, saying, “the communique from the summit is not yet the position of government or government policy.”

He noted that the communique issued at the end of the summit has been wrongly interpreted as the position of the government and “the flurry of criticism and commendations that greeted the release of the communique are hasty and premature.”

Olowolabi said in the statement that “the communique from the summit is as a result of the summary of the views of all the stakeholders in the education sector in the state.

“That over 2000 stakeholders, drawn from all walks of life, including teachers, parents, PTA, faith-based organisations, ANCOPPS, VCs, NUT, SUBEB, UNICEF and ASSU among several others, participated in the two-day summit.

“That, it is expected that at the end of any summit, there is a communique, but it should be noted that the communique from the summit is not yet the position of government or government policy.”

He said the state Commissioner for Education who is in charge of the ministry is expected to present the Communique to State Executive Council (SEC), where every point in it will be thoroughly discussed and debated before the state takes a position.

“The state government wishes to state that it has not abolished free education in Ondo State and we urge the people of the state to remain calm until the SEC appraises all the points raised in the communiqué,” Olowolabi said.