The state governor, Gboyega Oyetola, last Monday assented the recommendations of a panel set up to review some of the policies of his predecessor and boss, Rauf Aregbesola, who is now the Minister of Interior. Oyetola was his Chief of Staff.
The Aregbesola 4-5-3-4 model meant that pupils in primary schools ended their elementary class journey in Primary 4. They then proceeded to what is called Middle School - a ghastly mixture of upper primary and junior secondary schools. Established schools of several decades of existence and with renowned pedigrees, suddenly transformed into what he labelled Middle Schools and were so renamed.
This was also the fate of Osogbo Grammar School. Those days when I was at Akinorun, Oso Gramms had a renown that made us quiver. It was the first secondary school in the whole of the Osun Division which included Ogbomoso in current Oyo State. Aregbesola’s roving spirit couldn’t be tethered by the renown of Oso Gramms and its enviable history.
For a government which advertised its abiding interest in education, you would think that the superstructure of a good education, which demanded that teachers were well taken care of, would be its testament. Not for Aregbesola. He crowned these abstruse-minded policies with a cruel regime of owing teachers’ salaries, as he did civil servants’ in the state. He invented and patented the skewed governmental system of halving workers’ salary.
Thank God, Oyetola has given us back our schools - and he is paying teachers and pensioners without going to CNN to announce it. He deserves the accolades he has received for being pro-people and a real Omoluabi. Now, Alhaji Jakande and several millions of alumni Osun schools can hold a thank-God party to celebrate their victory over arrogant arbitrariness.