Contrary to the directive of the Oyo State government that pupils and students in the state public schools should resume for academic activities on Monday, teachers across the state have ignored the order.
The State Government had, over the weekend, through the Commissioner for Education, Mr. Toye Arulogun, ordered that the schools, which had been shut for over a month, be re-opened. The Commissioner had directed that students and pupils return to school today for academic activities.
The closure followed a protest by students, notably in the Ibadan metropolis, over the suspected sale of their schools to private investors by the government.
The students’ action was a reaction to government’s proposal to partner with some private individuals and groups on the running and management of about 31 out of the over 631 public secondary schools in the state.
The State chapter of the Nigeria Labour Congress thereafter ordered the strike, which forced all civil servants to abandon their duty posts.
The labour union had kicked against the suspected sale of the schools, as well as non-payment of six months’ salary of workers in the state.
Though the state government ordered all the schools to re-open, aside from the identified 17 that were said to have been involved in the protest, visits to schools in Iyana Church, Monatan, old Ife road, Eleyele and other parts of the state, showed that teachers did not heed the directive.
Some students, who were seen playing around within the metropolis, told The Point that they had no teachers to attend to them in their various schools.
A source, who teaches in one of the affected schools, told our correspondent that many of her colleagues would prefer to heed the call of the labour leaders than the governor until their outstanding salaries were paid.
The source, who pleaded anonymity, explained that the schools were left under locks and keys for the fear that the students might tamper with some school property if there were no teachers in sight to keep an eye on them.
Chairman of the Oyo NLC, Comrade Waheed Olojede, had, contrary to government’s directive, asked the teachers to disregard the resumption order, maintaining that government should first answer their demands by paying the backlog of salary arrears and pension due to the workers.
