The Oyo State Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Salihu Adelabu has warned principals and teachers to desist from collecting illegal fees from students and parents, stating that education is free from primary to secondary Schools in Oyo State.
Adelabu said this on Monday, January 8, 2024, while monitoring the resumption of the schools for the second term academic activities in Ibadan metropolis.
Adelabu, who was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary, Mr Adeniyi Olusanjo and directors from the ministry, described the level of compliance of teachers and students in resumption to the second term school calendar in the state as impressive.
He encouraged students to face their studies squarely and teachers to act professionally by bringing creativity and innovation into their teaching methods, explaining that principals and teachers in all schools monitored were actively on the ground for academic activities.
The Commissioner urged parents who are yet to release their wards to do so as academic activities have begun in earnest, stressing that keeping them back home would put them in a disadvantaged position among their colleagues.
He said: ‘Today is the first day of resumption in our public primary and secondary Schools in Oyo State. The enthusiasm of the teachers and students is very okay; luckily enough, based on what I have seen, not less than 70 per cent of our students resumed and almost 97 per cent of the staff are in the schools. With the morale of teachers and students, the second will be a fruitful section for both the students and the teachers.”
“I will encourage the students to sit tight and face their study squarely, and the teachers should act professionally by bringing creativity and innovation into their teaching methods. I want to warn the teachers that never must they charge the students and parents because education is free in Oyo State, also the parents whose children are yet to come, should allow them to come to school as teachings and learning have commenced in the schools. Schools monitored by the Commissioner and his team included: Oba Akibiyi Model School, Mokola, St. Louis Grammar School, Mokola, Government Secondary School, Orita-Aperin, Ibadan and a host of others”, he added.
