Osun state chapter of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM), has backed the move by Governor Gboyega Oyetola to reverse former Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s education policies.
This is just as the group stated that Governor Oyetola owed the people of the state apology for being part of the last administration that formulated the policies he wanted to reverse.
In a statement signed by its state coordinator and secretary, Alfred Adegoke and Kola Ibrahim, DSM said it had earlier opposed the policies because they made access to education stressful and costly for the children from poor and working class background, while enriching the few in the corridors of power and big business.
“While we were opposed to the attempt to whip up religious sentiments on the issues, we demanded reversal of the policies and called for renovation and rebuilding of all public primary and secondary schools across the state; improved working conditions for teaching and non-teaching staff in the education sector, and provision of genuinely free and quality education in the state.
“In the course of this campaign, our members were arrested on two occasions while our public meeting on demolition of Fakunle High School, Osogbo was disrupted by the DSS.
“While this was happening, Mr. Oyetola was sitting comfortably in Aregbesola’s government as chief of staff, being part of those who made decisions on the policies.
“Today, he wants to assume the posture of a ‘reasonable’ leader through populism when the policies he contributed to have cost the state and thousands of families enormously in terms of wasted resources, mass failure, etc.
“Oyetola actually owe the people of the state a public apology for being part of those who imposed education policies that almost ruined education system in the state.
“However, it should be noted that it is not yet uhuru. Indeed, the committee was a clever-by-half attempt by Oyetola to score cheap political points against his former boss and ally, Aregbesola, and raise his political profile.
“The committee was undemocratically composed, and is not different from the ‘wise men’ committee set up by Aregbesola in 2010 to review education sector and organise education summit.
“Of course, reversing some of the Aregbesola-era elitist education policies like the school merger policy may have been overtaken by event, given that what will be needed to return to the old policy will far outweigh what was used to implement the merger policy. But there are a lot that can be done to reverse the rot created by the Aregbesola government in the education sector in the state.”
