The decision of the Oyo State Government
to reverse the creation of more secondary schools from the existing
ones is frowned at by principals, vice-principals and even teachers who
view the policy as a coup.
From around 570 secondary schools in Oyo
State, the number rose sharply during the administration of former
governor, Rashidi Ladoja, to more than 900.
The governor, who was voted into power
in 2003, seized the opportunity to establish popularity with the
teachers, by creating more schools from the existing ones and promoting
some of the teachers to become principals and vice-principals.
It had no cost as the administration did
not build new classrooms on new lands. It only used the existing
structures to expand the schools, hinging its action on the then Federal
Government policy on education, which recommended division of existing
secondary schools to reduce the number of pupils in one school.
The policy was made by the National
Council on Education, which is the highest education policy making body
in the country. It has all commissioners of education and permanent
secretaries in Nigeria as members with the Minister of Education as the
head. In essence, a school like Loyola College for example was then
divided to various arms of senior and junior schools.
But the present administration headed by
Governor Abiola Ajimobi is adopting a new policy which is a direct
opposite of what was once used in the state. Like Ladoja, Ajimobi was
also acting on another FG’s policy, but which reversed its earlier
principle on secondary school education with the introduction of
articulation, re-articulation and de-articulation policies.
The articulation policy merged all the
new schools with the existing ones from where they were created. The
re-articulation policy recognised that only the junior schools would be
created and granted autonomy, which meant that the various arms of
senior and junior schools created would be scrapped, while
de-articulation policy also merged all the new schools with the existing
ones.
The state adopted re-articulation
policy, which means that some of those who were promoted to head the
newly created schools by Ladoja could lose their status under the new
education policy adopted by the state.
Although the state Commissioner for
Education, Prof. Solomon Olaniyonu, stated that the policy did not mean
re-deployment or demotion, some of the affected members of staff who
spoke with our correspondent frowned at the strategy used. Some of them
said the state would have allowed those who were nearing their
retirement age to complete their years of service in their present
status as principals.
Mr. Salako Adeniran (not real name) had
acted as principal in a junior secondary school in the South West
council area of the state for five years and is due to retire in three
years. He is a level 15 officer which qualifies him as a principal. He
said he would have retired as a teacher in the classroom but for the
policy that promoted him to the management level. He said the principal
of the senior school where he works no longer respects him as he dishes
out instruction to him since the new policy was enforced.
“The FG policy gave autonomy to junior
secondary school and other schools created from the existing ones and
many of us were beneficiaries,” said Adeniran.
“It means that within a secondary
school, five or six more schools could be created, so there were more
principals and vice-principals. Before then, few teachers assumed
principal’s position even if they were qualified. This is because the
position was subject to vacancy. If a principal did not retire, other
qualified officers would not climb the ladder. Ladoja adopted the policy
but that was because he chose to, otherwise, he could stick with the
old policy because some states did not follow the Federal Government
policy. We have been asked to hand over to the principal of the senior
school but that dented our ego and morale as equally senior officers. It
makes us interim heads of the schools that will soon be scrapped and we
now take instructions from our colleagues who are lucky to be senior
school principals. Even before we are removed, our autonomy has been
swept away by the new policy,” added Adeniran.
A member of the state chapter of Nigeria
Union of Teachers who also preferred anonymity raised questions over
the reversal of the old policy. He said although the government adopted
systematic merging of the schools, political consideration should have
favoured the old policy because it allowed teachers to have a fulfilled
career.
He said, “It (the merger) has been on
for two years now because it will be difficult to scrap them at once. At
the time, the question was, ‘what will happen to the heads of the
schools that were being merged with the existing schools?’ There is law
and there is culture of education in every state. The state government
would have used its discretion to ensure that no one was embarrassed in
the process.
“The impression was that some
vice-principals could end up becoming teachers in the same schools where
they were revered as academic or administrative deputy heads, while
some principals would end up becoming mere departmental heads in the
schools. Although these were addressed with the systematic approach that
allows some of them to retire with the present status, it shuts the
door against aspiring school heads, who had thought that the policy
would give them the opportunity to live their dreams of reaching the
pinnacle of their career. The earlier policy received applause but when
there is policy change, it should have been done with human face.”
Another member of the union who simply
identified himself as Mr. Joseph backed the government’s policy to
reduce the schools to ‘manageable figure’ because of what he described
as abuse of office by some of the ‘emergency principals.’
“I will describe them as emergency
school heads because they were not trained in administrative work. They
lack knowledge of the rules guiding leadership while some of them levy
the pupils illegally. I am sure that the government would have conducted
an investigation before taking the decision. Every teacher will not
retire as a principal but it does not mean that they will suffer
financial loss. The affected officers were not demoted, it only takes us
back to the tested old policy where the government had the number of
schools it can manage,” said Joseph.
He added that the NUT also advised that
the government should allow the principals who are close to retirement
age to retire as principals so that as they are going out, there will be
no replacement for their position, which according to him, is exactly
what the state has done.
“I am aware that the leadership of our
union was involved in the various meetings held before the decision was
made and I am certain that the state government listened to its
recommendations. No one has resigned because of the decision, although
there could be friction between the senior and junior school leaders but
that is normal and I think we should learn to obey state policy,” he
added.
While responding to questions from our
correspondent, the state education commissioner, Olaniyonu, said the
state was following a national directive on education.
He said, “What the state is doing is to
follow national policy on education, which removes the unnecessary
divisions where three or four schools operate within a school premises.
We are re-articulating them by bringing them together so that the
administration could be directional.”
Olaniyonu confirmed that the schools
were being phased out in stages and that most of the affected officers
retain their positions.
“There is no principal or vice-principal
that was returned to the classrooms. Many of those who were affected
are already close to retirement age, so we do not have any problem with
where they would be redeployed to and they do not suffer any loss in
financial status.”
He also addressed the fear that the new policy would be a barrier to career aspirations of some of the top-level teachers.
“Some of the schools created are still
on while we gradually face them out. Indeed, some of the vice-principals
will assume the principal’s position as soon as there is vacancy in the
regular school structure. So the government is also concerned about
areas where there could be handled...
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