inaugurated the Salvation Army Middle School
in Osogbo, the state capital.
The school is one of the 100 elementary, 50
middle and 20 high schools being built under
the O'School initiative.
Parents and pupils defied the rain to witness
the event.
Governor Rauf Aregbesola said the
inauguration was a reaffirmation that Osun's
education policy is "a train engineered for a
one-way trip to success".
He said O'School was conceived at the
education summit organised by his
administration when he assumed office to
address infrastructural decay in public schools.
Aregbesola said: "The summit was to address
the decay we met in public schools, which we
found unacceptable. The summit, attended by
eminent Nigerians like the Nobel Laureate,
Prof. Wole Soyinka, came up with a reform
blueprint to overhaul the public education
sector.
"We have since been working assiduously to
implement the reforms. The inauguration of
this school is evidence that all is going as
planned with our reform. As part of the
reform, we decided to reorganise the school
system into Elementary, Middle and High
School categories.
"The Elementary Level, comprising pupils aged
6 to 9 corresponds with primary 1 to 4 in the
existing system. The Middle Level is from
primary 4 to Junior Secondary School (JSS III)
for pupils aged 10 to 14, now classified as
Grades 5 to 9. The High School Level covers
ages 15 to 17 and corresponds with the Senior
Secondary School III (SS III), known as Grades
10-12."
Aregbesola said the Elementary and Middle
Schools would each accommodate 900 pupils,
while the High School is to accommodate
3,000 pupils.
He said the High Schools had a mega structure,
comprising three schools with facilities for all
subjects, including state-of-the-art
laboratories, as well as recreation centres and
a food court.
The governor said: "The overall aim of the
reforms we are carrying out is to develop the
new man intellectually, socially and morally.
This new man is placed in the centre of the
society where he views his development as part
of and for the development of the society.
"This is a non-parasitic and non-oppressive
man, who views his existence in the light of
the growth of others. He views whatever he
acquires to be subsumed in the overall interest
of others. He is a man in himself and a man
for society. This is the Omoluabi essence."
Aregbesola urged parents to support the
government by preparing their wards for the
new system and dressing them up in the new
uniform.
He said the government's investment in
education was already paying off with the
improved performance of pupils in
examinations.
The governor said besides the distribution of
the Opon Imo (tablet of knowledge) and the
school feeding programme, the economic
ramification of the education reform was
colossal.
He said: "Some 3,000 women have been
employed for the Elementary feeding
programme. This is in addition to the gains it
has brought to the production capacity of
farmers, who supply farm produce, poultry
and beef for the food."
Deputy Governor Mrs. Titi Laoye-Tomori, who
doubles as the Commissioner for Education,
said although the project did not come cheap,
it was the crowning glory of the
administration's revolutionary agenda in the
education sector.
Mrs. Laoye-Tomori said: "I feel like break-
dancing, even at my age. I am excited and feel
fulfilled. I thank God that I am alive to see the
coming to fruition of a vision conceptualised
and deployed by my indefatigable governor."
Vice-Chairman of the Senate's Committee on
Education Sola Adeyeye said any nation that
did not invest in the education of its youths
would fail.
Adeyeye, who represents Osun Central
Senatorial District, hailed the governor's
commitment in revamping education.
The professor of Molecular Biology said while
many states have not accessed the UBEC funds
because they could not contribute their
counterpart fund, Osun had accessed it
because it did not wait for the Federal
Government to contribute its counterpart fund.
O'School Chairman Otunba Lai Oyeduntan said
the state of education in the state was
embarrassing before Aregbesola assumed
office.
Oyeduntan said by the end of the year, 15
Middle, 13 Elementary and 10 High schools
would be ready.
House of Assembly Speaker Najeem Salam said
the administration's policies had revived the
education sector.
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