The Osun State Government has strongly defended the condition of public schools across the state, insisting that deliberate investments in teachers, school management, and rural education are already yielding positive results in students’ academic performance.
The Chairman of the Osun State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Mr. Temitope Mustapha, made the clarification during a one-day workshop organised for members of the state’s Timetable Committee in Osogbo on Friday. He dismissed allegations by opposition figures that public schools in Osun were suffering from poor infrastructure and inadequate teaching personnel.
Mustapha said the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke had continued to prioritise education through teacher recruitment, improved deployment of personnel, and support for schools in both urban and rural communities. According to him, the narrative that public schools in the state are collapsing is misleading and does not reflect realities within the education sector.
He stressed that no public school in Osun State was being abandoned or allowed to deteriorate, adding that government interventions were specifically targeted at ensuring equal learning opportunities for students regardless of location.
“No school is going into extinction in Osun State. In fact, our students in rural areas performed excellently in their NECO and WASSCE examinations, a feat that helped the state move from 30th to 7th position nationally,” Mustapha said.
The TESCOM chairman noted that the impressive performance recorded by students in external examinations was closely connected to improved teacher availability and stronger academic supervision across schools. He explained that the government had recently deployed newly recruited teachers to underserved rural communities to strengthen classroom teaching and reduce pressure on existing staff.
He further maintained that the Adeleke administration remained committed to improving the welfare and effectiveness of teachers, describing educators as the backbone of the state’s educational advancement.
“The insinuation that rural schools are closing down is false and peddled by enemies of progress. Under the administration of Governor Ademola Adeleke, no such thing has happened, and it will not happen,” he added.
Mustapha also used the occasion to charge school timetable officers and academic planners to approach their responsibilities with professionalism and dedication, saying efficient time management remains essential to effective learning outcomes in schools.
According to him, timetable officers play strategic roles in maintaining discipline, ensuring fair workload distribution among teachers, and guaranteeing that students receive adequate classroom contact hours in all subjects.
“Every teacher, except principals and vice principals, must be placed on 24 periods per week,” he said, while urging school administrators not to compromise educational standards.
Education stakeholders at the workshop were also encouraged to sustain collaboration with government efforts aimed at improving teaching quality and restoring confidence in public schools across the state.
The clarification by TESCOM followed criticisms raised by the Director-General of the All Progressives Congress Campaign Committee for the August 15 governorship election in Osun State, Mr. Wole Oke, who alleged that public schools in the state lacked adequate teachers and infrastructure.
Oke had claimed during the inauguration of the party’s campaign committees that many parents were gradually losing confidence in public schools because of what he described as deteriorating learning conditions.
“We don’t have school buildings, we don’t have teachers, our children are no longer going to public schools again, and these are the schools that we all attended,” Oke had alleged.
However, Osun education officials insist that ongoing reforms, teacher recruitment exercises, and improved academic performance indicators show that the state’s public education system is undergoing recovery and expansion rather than decline.
