Engr. Seyi Makinde, a gubernatorial aspirant under the platform of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Oyo state, has on Monday insisted that the state will continue to lack behind in the area of education if students in both public primary and secondary schools continue to use “used tyres” as their desks.
Makinde who said that the 2017 budgetary allocation for education which was about N5.1b ((about 2 per cent of the total budget) was “too low compared to the UNESCO recommendation and what is obtainable in other states” made this declaration while addressing journalists at the state of the state media chart in his Omi Tuntun Ibadan office.
Makinde who berated Governor Abiola Ajimobi of the state for what he described as “paying lip service to education by choosing only six schools as model schooled in the state”, informed that it was unfortunate that “students in some primary and secondary schools in the state are still sitting on used tyres and using used tyres as their desks”.
The PDP stalwart who said that the N5 billion budget allocation which represents about 2. per cent in the 2017 budget and N5.6b budget allocation which represents about 2.1 per cent in the 2018 budget was “too far compared to the UNESCO recommendation”, however urged Ajimobi to invest heavily in education to address the dwindling state of the education in the state by allocating huge amount of money to the sector instead of “choosing six schools as model schools”.
The PDP gubernatorial aspirant while sympathising with the people of the state for “enduring with the Ajimobi administration for many years”, then assured that his administration when voted to power in 2019 would be allocating at least 40 per cent of the state budget to education with a 30 pupils/students per class policy.
Makinde said, “We all see challenges we are facing in the education sector in the state when teachers are on strike and the students learning under substandard infrastructure, some students are using used tyres as their desks.
“It is unfortunate that students in public schools in primary and secondary schools in Oyo state are using used tyres as their desks. When I was admitted to Bishop Philip, I went to a public school, the environment was good. They gave me everything, chairs, tables and textbooks. It attracted many people and the enrolment in the school increased. And I am a product of the free education which later contributed to what I became today. But, now students are studying and schooling under inferior infrastructure and some are still sitting and using used tyres as their desks and to sit. Are we giving the same opportunity given to us to these folks now? The answer is no.
“There can be no improvement if the students continue to study and sit on the used tyres in the public schools. UNESCO recommended what states should allocate to education. I looked at the 2017 budget, education was given about N5 billon and in 2018 it was about N5.6 billion, that is about 2.5 per cent of the total budget. Now, some teachers have been sacked. The 2.5 per cent allocation was too far from the UNESCO recommendation.
“The government is showcasing six schools that are on the main road as model schools. What about those that are in the remote areas in the villages?”
Makinde added that when elected, he will turn around the fortune of the state’s education sector, having realised that education is the best legacy this generation can bequeath to the incoming ones.
He said, “We will ensure the 30 students per class policy in all the schools. We will not just showcase five or six secondary schools and call them model schools, some of these schools are located along the major roads. What about others, those in the interior areas? All schools should be metal schools.
“In the first year, we will allocate 40 to 50 of the total budget to education because education is the tool you can give to people to take them out of poverty and this will go on and on”.
He said, “The next election will be won and lost according to the voting pattern. It is the people that will determine who wins and not the leaders. The people have endured in the past seven years, but I want to tell them that after suffering, they will enjoy. I want them to know that. The people have endured win Ajimobi in the last seven years, but I assure them that things will change for better after the 2019 elections”.
