...Says He Has Never Ordered The Wear Of Hijab in Public Schools
The Governor of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola has cleared the air on the lingering rumours making the round that his government sponsored the wear of hijab (head-scarf) by the female muslim students in all the public schools across the state.
Aregbesola also disclosed that no amount of propaganda would distract his administration from treading the path to championing the cause of humanity and as well further promoting the economic prosperity and success of the state.
Governor Aregbesola stated this while addressing the people at a roundtable education submit tagged "Developing Collaborative Framework for Education Development and Advancement in Western Nigeria" being put together by the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN), in Osogbo.
The Governor who frowned at what he described as baseless, malignant and unfounded allegation, said on no account does his government intends to neither islamize the state or authorize the use of hijab in public schools.
Aregbesola who corrected the notion that some public schools in the state are still being owned by missionaries, said no public school is under the control of any religious institution since the then missionary schools were being taken over legitimately by Federal Government in 1975.
Governor Aregbesola said Nigeria remains a secular state, hence prevented any government whatsoever to glorify or protect any religious faith, saying his government had maintained its neutrality, equity and balance among the three major religions.
The Governor condemned in its totality the alleged wearing of choir robes by some students of Baptist High School, Iwo in protest against the judgment delivered by Justice Jide Falola on the case filed by the state Muslim Community seeking an order of the court to allow the use of hijab by the female muslim students in all the public schools in the state.
Governor Aregbesola explained that for the fact that he is a muslim adherent, he has never allowed sentiment to override his rational decision and thinking in anything that has to do with religion since he became the governor of the state.
He clarified that the current government has been meeting its responsibilities to the people irrespective of socioeconomic, religious or cultural affiliations.
Aregbesola stated that his government would not for whatever reason condone any act of indiscipline, warning pupils and students in the state against being used as instrument in the hands of the political traducers.
He urged the aggrieved christian faithful to deplore high level of maturity while seeking for a redress, saying with the High Court judgment, they can approach the Appellate Court if felt being unsatisfied rather than resorting at a chaos capable of destabilizing the existing peace.
He said, "it is unfortunate that some of our enemies are hiding under the disguise of religion to frustrate our noble efforts in promoting functional, quality and qualitative education in the state.
"I have never ordered the use of hijab in any of our public schools not to talk of planning to islamize the state.
"This is a common sense because if truly our government have an interest in the use of hijab, why the case was taken to court by the state muslim community?
"A simple answer to this is that, there won't be a need for such action because we would have ordered it use.
"Our administration had successfully maintained the status quo because we met our children especially the female pupils and students wearing hijab even all the Christian based schools.
"To clarify this notion, it is important to note that our schools restructuring and reclassification was not in anyway aimed to promote or place any religion against the other as we only do that to enhance the quality of our education sector and as well boost the untapped morale in our younger generations.
"But it is quite regrettable that some evil doers have taken this advantage to malign us and paint our government in bad light by accusing us of islamizing the state and authorizing the use of hijab by female students.
"Though I am a muslim, but I have never compromised other people' religions that is why I relate to everyone equally as this noble initiative was manifested in our dealings with the three major religions in the state.
"We have maintained the extreme fairness to all religions, thus gives us the way to accord equal rights to all the religions adherents in all circumstances", Aregbesola stated.
Governor Aregbesola noted that those who accused him and his government of ineptitude were not being honest, affirming that in 2007, the state government put forward 36,171 candidates for WAEC examination out of which 2,483 representing 6.86 per cent had credit pass in five subjects, including English and Mathematics.
The Governor stated further that in 2008, 37,715 candidates with 3,813 had pass, representing 10.11 per cent. In 2009, 39,676 candidates, with 5,545 had pass, representing 13.98 per cent, while in 2010, 43,216 candidates, with 6,777 had pass, representing 15.68 per cent.
According to him, "This four years gave us an average of 15.68 per cent. That year, we fielded 53,293 candidates, had 11672 pass, representing 21.98 per cent. In 2012, we fielded 51,463 out of which 11,431 passed, representing 22.21 per cent. In 2013, we also fielded 47,013 candidates, recorded 9,301 pass, representing 19.78 per cent.
"In 2014, we sponsored 47,672 candidates, 9,316 of them passed, representing 19.54 per cent, therefore, the average performance for our first four years was 20.88 per cent. Compared with the average performance (13.26 per cent) of the three years that preceded us, the percentage improvement in performance during our tenure is a huge 57.46 per cent.
Governor Aregbesola who titled his speech, "Education for Today and Tomorrow, said the role of education towards a sustainable and prosperous society can never be over-emphasized.
He said the impact of education in development and bringing enlightenment to the human mind had contributed tremendously towards the development of the western Nigeria as being propounded by the late Obafemi Awolowo.
Aregbesola said since education provides the platform for leadership recruitment and as well serves as a means for character building and good citizenship, thus the palpable downward trend in education should be critically tackled.
While proffering solutions to some of the challenges facing education in the country, Governor Aregbesola canvassed for total hallmark towards the efforts of revamping and restructuring the sector.
Governor Aregbesola advocated the adoption of indigenous language in the teaching and learning in all the schools across the nation, saying such innovation would in no doubt turn around the sector and place the country to an enviable heights.
According to him, "if we begin to teach our pupils in our indigenous language, they will be like the French, the Germans, Italians, Chinese and other people who teach in their own languages.
Enumerating some of his achievements in education, Governor Aregbesola disclosed that his government has been implementing the recommendations made at the education submit held in the state held shortly after his assumption of office in 2010
Aregbesola said the current government had successfully reclassified primary and secondary schools into three layers of elementary (Primary 1-4), middle (Primary 5-JSS3) and high (SSS1-3) schools coupled with the provision of Home Grown School Feeding Programme (OMEALS), which covers elementary schools.
He explained that his government since the commencement of the O'MEALS programme, has been feeding 252,000 pupils every school day to the tune of N3.6 billion per annum and comes to N50 per child every day.
"Our efforts and intervention in education have been massive and I have no doubt it been worth the while. There has been qualitative and quantitative improvement in the performance of our pupils and general education of our youths.
Aregbesola who lamented over the state of education prior to his emergence said, the badly behaved pupils in rundown and dilapidated schools before his intervention have started to behave well once they are transferred to the beautiful environment of the new schools.
He said, "we gave e-learning computer tablets (Opon Imo) to final year students of public schools. This is a stand-alone learning device that contains the recommended 57 textbooks for WAEC, NECO and JAMB examinations in electronic format and 40,000 past questions of the three bodies. It also contains other materials on ethics, Yoruba traditional religion and reproductive health.
Comparing his government with the previous administrations in the state, Governor Aregbesola said, "quantitatively, we are also better while the previous administration in the last three years before us presented only 120,607 candidates for WAEC, we, in the corresponding period, presented 151,769 candidates.
He therefore urged the gathering to as a matter of urgency critically consider the impact of education in the society by formulating policies that will fast track better future for the region.
Earlier, the Deputy Governor, Mrs. Titi Laoye- Tomori who described the gathering as a forum to arrest the palpable decadence in education said, the time has come for all and sundry to stamp-out the impediment and turn around the education sector not only in the western region but in the whole country.
Mrs. Tomori who identified education as the only mechanism to bailout the nation from its present myriads of socioeconomic, political and educational challenges, advocated collective participation and regional integration among the various governments in the southwest.
The Deputy Governor lamented over what she regarded as an "unprecedented deplorable state" of education in Nigeria, said all hands must be on deck to bring the education to the standard and enviable position that would be a model in the universe.
She called for a systemic re-integration to upsurge the quality of education in country especially in the western region, saying unless the menace is being unraveled to rescue the region from the presumably dearth, the region would remain educational backward.
The Deputy Governor said government must henceforth see education as sine qua non to governance, just as she advocated for moral responsibility towards the educational repositioning in the western region.
She stressed that the development agenda of the government in the western Nigeria towards the provision of functional, quality and quantitative education must be collective.
Mrs. Tomori who urged the gathering to come up with a modality that would fast-tract progressive and workable educational policies, emphasized that the gesture if properly implemented would continue to glorify the already built image and reputation of the region as the most civilized and educated part of the nation.
The Deputy Governor who doubled as the State Commissioner of Education noted that the better way for every meaningful government to contribute significantly towards a realizable framework for education development and advancement in the western part of the country was to restore the legacy being lost in all aspects of education sector.
She disclosed that the state under the leadership of Governor Aregbesola has successfully implemented pro-masses policies that have contributed and impacted greatly in the lives of the citizenry especially the young ones.
She said, "I am very happy that this roundtable meeting would in no doubt improve the qualitative and quantitative performances in education sector of our region as it seek to arrest the apparent decadence and rot in our education.
"Though it is unfortunate that education in the country seems to be on declination but as a matter of fact, we must muster efforts to strengthen the superior legacy which we are known for.
"Governments at various capacities must come together to bailout the nation from the present deplorable state of education in the country.
"As for us in the state of Osun, our government has intensified the needed plans to continuously demonstrate our prowess as a model to others in all sectors of the economic most importantly education.
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