We can't condone teachers' negligence in Lagos anymore - Ogunyemi

Ogunyemi and other committee members inspecting food being prepared for students.

Eromosele Ebhomele

Ogunyemi and other committee members inspecting food prepared for students
Ogunyemi and other committee members inspecting food prepared for students

The chairman of the House Committee on Education of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Lanre Ogunyemi, has warned teachers in the state, on behalf of his committee, that the government would no longer allow negligence on the part of teachers in the state henceforth.

Ogunyemi, who led members of the committee to the Badagry Junior and Senior Grammar School, Badagry area of Lagos, also chided the teachers for not taking the welfare of the children under their care seriously.

The lawmaker said the unscheduled visit to the school and other schools in the state had opened the eyes of the committee members to the lackadaisical attitudes of some of the teachers despite government’s efforts to make Lagos the true example of what education should be in the country.

The lawmakers, who spent hours in the school monitoring students’ activities, their feeding, the teaching methods of the teachers, their library, hostels, kitchens and laboratories, noted that the dinning hall of the junior arm of the school was relatively small and stuffy for the children.

They slammed the teachers for refusing to idealise ways to improve on what the state government had provided in the school for the children.

It was also noticed that the school library had not been used for a long as the shelves and books were dusty and place unkempt. The committee also took away some novels not meant for children but which were found on the shelves.

A hostel room in Badagry Secondary School
A hostel room in Badagry Secondary School

Ogunyemi and Sola Giwa, another member of the committee, expressed surprise that the hostel facilities and their surroundings were not tidy. They were also congested.

“It is obvious that the teachers in the school restrict themselves to their offices and classrooms. This is dereliction of duty and it appears that the house masters are not doing anything.

“Most of the window glasses are broken and the hostels are unhygienic for the children. You have left the students to their fate without making any effort to address the issues affecting them in the hostels,” Ogunyemi lamented warning that the school hostels needed serious emergency intervention.

The lawmaker observed that the hostels were not properly ventilated since they were mostly choked and dirty. The committee also observed that the food being served the students was poor and small.

Furthermore, the classes were observed to be overpopulated while only two computers were working out of the 20 provided by the government for the Information and Communication Technology section of the school.

The committee frowned at the discovery that the school did not intimate the government of the spoilt computers but heaped the central processing units of the computer sets in a section of the room.

The committee warned the staff led by their principals, Mr. Mautin Olubiyi Akoro for the Senior arm, and Mrs. Ebun Ikuomenisan for the junior arm, to brace up for work or find their way out of the system to stop giving the government a bad name.

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At the Lagos State Model College, Kankon, Badagry, Ogunyemi told the students that the committee visited them to see how they were being catered for in their hostels, how they are learning, what they eat amongst others.

This, according to him, is in fulfilment of their promises to the voters in the state, including the parents of the students, that they would serve their interests as elected officers.

Students waiting in the dining hall for their lunch
Students waiting in the dining hall for their lunch

He however, enjoined them to keep the best hygiene, obey the rules of the schools and keep their surroundings clean.

The committee frowned at a situation, where two students sleep on a bed in the hostel of the junior arm of the school as well as the stuffy state of the hostels.

Ogunyemi stated that the essence of the oversight was to know the true state of things in the schools and that this was being unveiled to them in all the inspections they have made.

“We know that infrastructures in education requires constant monitoring and improvement. That is what we need to do in all our schools, but the government cannot do it alone. We need public-spirited individuals, philanthropists, and even corporate organisations to come to the aid of education in the state.

“Also, we must ensure that our children learn under a very conducive atmosphere, where they live and what they eat are important to the overall success they achieve in life. That is why we say that in all that we have seen there are things the government must address,” he said.

He emphasised that the committee had met with the state deputy governor, who is in charge of education, and that she remains passionate to get things done as soon as possible and that the admission process in the state schools must be regulated to make sure that the number of students intake tallies with the facilities on ground.

He disagreed that the N25,000 being paid as feeding fee by each of the students in the boarding houses per term should be increased.

He stated that the cornerstone of the campaign of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was quality and free education.

“The N25,000 that is paid by each student per term is for feeding, accommodation is free, tuition is free and some people have said that the money is not enough, but the government can look inward for a way to subsidise it.

“Education is meant to be a social service to the people, the essence of the government is welfare and the security of the people. Part of their welfare is good education and education should be accessible uninhibited, whether you are a child of the poor or that of the rich.

“We will continue to support free education, I would not subscribe to the fact that the fees being charged in state schools should be increased, but I feel that the parents can come to support the government voluntarily.

“We have the school-based management committees and parents/teachers forum, they can all come together and support the initiative of the government,” he said re-emphasising the need for Education Summit in the state.

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