Kazeem Ugbodaga

Deputy Governor of Osun State,   Mrs Titilayo Laoye-Tomori has again debunked the rumours of the alleged plan to scrap some of the tertiary institutions in the state by the state government.

Laoye-Tomori said this while briefing members of the State House of Assembly Committee on Education over the development in the education sector.

Deputy Governor State of Osun, Mrs Titi-Laoye Tomori (centre); Chairman, Osun House of Assembly Committee on Education, Folorunso Oladoyin (3rd right); Deputy Chairman , Abiodun Awolola (3rd left); Chairman House Committee on Information and Strategy, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye (left); Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Lawrence Oyeniran  (right); Members – Leke Ogunsola (2nd right) and Musibau Azeez (2nd left), during a visit to the Deputy Governor in her office.

She said the government has advised the Institutions to harmonize some of the courses in  the State owned tertiary institutions to avoid duplication of courses and ensured that graduates of the institutions acquired appropriate skills that could make them self sustaining after their education.

“The Government has directed the forum of Chairmen of the Governing Board of the Institutions to review their programmes and come up with a Position Paper on how to make our students job creators instead of job seekers after graduation. We want our Polytechnics to run Courses that would meet the need of the Nation and make the graduates self reliant

“Towards this end, the Government has directed all the tertiary institutions to devote 50%  of their admission quota to their  main programmes,  25% should be devoted to Remedial Programmes to cater for the teeming youths  that could not gain admission to any tertiary Institution.

“Finally, the Polytechnics are to devote 25% of their admission to Vocational, Technical and Skill Acquisition Courses where Graduates that want to acquire such Skills can enroll, and where Artisans that want to sharpen their skills and acquire certificates can equally be admitted while the Colleges of Education are to devote 25% of their admission quota to running of Continuous Education Programmes for training of teachers from all over the State and beyond.

“This is to ensure that we produce graduates that will be useful to themselves and be able to establish  their own businesses after graduation as well as ensure sustenance of well trained teachers in elementary and Secondary Schools in the State. There is no plan to scrap any of  the four Tertiary Institutions, we just want them to run viable programmes”, she stated.

According to her, the government is still expecting the Position Paper from the Forum of the Governing Council Chairmen before implementation.

Earlier, the Chairman, House Committee on Education, Folorunsho Bamisayemi commended the government for the way it has handled naughty   issues in the areas of education in the state.

He said the series of controversies that had ensued over the education policies of government was an indication that it is committed to get things done in the sector by not dodging the issues, but proffering solutions to them.

Bamisayemi said the paucity of funds required that the government should come up with ingenius ways of sustaining the system and increasing the quality in the system.

He passed vote of confidence on the government on the way it has been handling the education system, saying, the Assembly would be coming up with ideas to assist the government in realising its goal on the education.