Femi Adeleke
Abeokuta
The Ogun State Government has declared zero tolerance against juvenile delinquencies and other crimes such as cultism, truancy, drinking of alcohol, smoking of hard drugs, among others, being committed by some students of public schools in the State.
Arigbabu, who expressed readiness of the State Government to meet stakeholders that matter in education sector in resolving the crises in the sector, stated that there would be series of meetings with Security Agencies, Principals and Heads of Schools, Parents and Teachers Associations and others, in order to form effective alliances against vices and juvenile delinquencies in schools.
Arigbabu noted that several strategies had been put in place to checkmate the challenges.
He explained that the issues of misbehaviours among students is a reflection of what is happening in the larger society.
The commissioner said the state government would not fold its arms and allow the incidences that happened in some of its schools last term reared its ugly head again.
He explained that government extended the resumption date from January 4th to 10th, so as to strategise the more on how to checkmate nefarious acts among the students.
He explained that series of meetings were held with virtually all stakeholders in the education industry in the state in repositioning the schools.
He identified poor parenting, improper upbringing, issue of underage children, environmental factor, peer group influence and economic situation of the country as some of the factors responsible for these challenges.
The commissioner implored parents to play their roles in moulding their children in becoming responsible students, submitting that the children spent more hours at home than in schools.
“The state government is unhappy with events that occured in some of our schools last term. It is important to note that issues of misbehaviours and misdemeanors are not something peculiar to schools in the state.
“What is happening is a reflection of what is happening in the larger society.
“As responsible government, we can not sit down and allow these development to consume us. We have critically looked at those issues and that is why we extended the resumption date for us to strategise the more on how to curtail it.
“We will continue to improve on the situation in our schools. We are addressing the issue of congestion in classes to promote effective and efficient teaching learning process,”he added.
According to the commissioner, part of the measures put in place to curb indiscipline among the students is the reintroduction of extra curricular activities, Post Examination Entertainment Programme (PEEP) in schools and Inter House Sports.
Meanwhile, the State Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology has said that the State had completed works on effective e-learning, digitised scheme of work, digitised examinations and exams results, known as e-dossier, which is the State’s effort to rejig and update national education curriculum, saying Governor Dapo Abiodun would soon launch State e-learning platform that encompasses all the methods of learning and psycho-motor activities of pupils.
