Oyo govt discovers 50 schools without pupils, 10,000 redundant teachers

The verification exercise embarked upon by the Oyo State government is said to be yielding positive result, following the discovery of 50 schools without pupils and 10,000 redundant primary school teachers.

This revelation was made by the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology in Oyo State, Professor Adeniyi Olowofela, while addressing journalists at the end of state executive council meeting, held at the state secretariat, on Monday.

Olowofela stated that government intended to move teachers with additional qualifications,who were  among the 10,000 discovered primary school teachers to the Junior Secondary class.

He further stressed that there was no going back on government’s decision on the stoppage of automatic promotion in schools across the state.

On Monday, security agencies had barricaded some schools in the metropolis to forestall breakdown of law and order when it appeared that some students were planning to foment trouble.

It was gathered that a large number of students in the state would repeat classes, having performed below the 50 per cent pass mark set by the state government.

Olowofela stated that the subvention to tertiary institutions had been reduced by government to 25 per cent, urging “the head of the institutions to fashion out avenues of generating revenue.”

Similarly, Mr Bimbo Kolade, the state Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters, said the N6.8 billion pension scam inherited from previous administrations in the state hindered payment of pension and gratuity.

Kolade said N880 million was  released to primary school pensioners and local government retirees, saying they had received the payment.

He said N6.2billion was also released for the payment of June, July and August salaries of primary school teachers.

Kolade said the state government had instructed Mr Oluwaseun Abimbola, the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, to liaise with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) to access the N400 million it had recovered.