Agitations for the return of schools to their original owners heightened on Saturday at Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo, where hundreds of old students of the famous school assembled for their yearly meeting.
The old students argued that such measure remained one of the best ways to enhance the standard of education and save the schools from
infrastructural decay.
Ekiti State Deputy Governor Prof Modupe Adelabu joined the agitators in her remark at the 2013 Annual General Meeting and Gala Night of the
National Old Student Association (NOSA) of the school.
She urged every old student to either adopt a classroom, or an indigent pupil as a way of giving back to the school that contributed so much to their attainments.
The deputy governor announced her readiness to adopt a child, who she said must either be a full orphan, or half orphan from the Junior
Secondary School (JSS) to tertiary level.
Mrs. Adelabu asked the school’s management to furnish her with the particulars of such pupil to guide her on the next line of action.
Adelabu, who is a professor of Education Administration and Management, was of the opinion that returning such schools to their owners will enlist genuine interest and the full participation of all stakeholders, including the alumni, in the supervision and infrastructural development of the schools.
She called on old students of schools across the country not to abandon their Alma matter which had contributed to their attainments in life but to come together and do whatever they could to address the challenges confronting the schools to sustain academic excellence as
in the days of old.
The deputy governor who also told the audience that the administration of Governor Kayode Fayemi has renovated all schools in Ekiti and built
more classrooms to address infrastructural challenges said the government is also collaborating with all stakeholders and will not hesitate to return schools to willing original owners.
She said religious bodies who founded the schools have reasons which they would not want it to die but the government may not be able to
properly understand this.
The guest speaker, Prof Jide Osuntokun, counseled Yoruba leaders not to shun the proposed National Conference, arguing that the conference
would offer a platform for them to chart a way forward for the Nigeria of their dream.
He cautioned that others would decide their future for them should they failed to make their own view know through the forum.
Last modified: November 18, 2013