Exclusive: Inside Ogun Govt Secondary School Where Parents Employ Teachers For Students

ABEOKUTA - When Mr. Joseph Alebiosu, brought his three children to Baptist Girls College, Idi - Aba, Abeokuta area of Ogun state, he was expecting that the government would live up to its promise and provide his children with free education. 

Alebiosu, a civil servant, had no choice than to withdraw his children from private schools and enrolled them at the Baptist Girls College around his home due to the current reality of the country. 

During enrollment, he was charged with some levy fees totaling about N30, 000 that made him questioned the "free education" mantra of the Governor Dapo Abiodun-led administration. 

Although, the government was expected to provide teachers at public schools, Alebiosu has been paying not less than N9, 000 annually to ensure his three children have access to quality teachers. 

He said, "We have never had this so bad, but this is a government that claims to offer free education from Primary to Secondary School, yet, they cannot employ enough and qualified teachers for the students. How do you expect the children to learn and compete with their peers?"

Mr. Alebiosu and some other parents were contributing money to the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), so as to be able to employ competent teachers to improve the quality of the education their children. 

The employment of teachers at Baptist Girls College is becoming the responsibility of the parents, while government reportedly refuse to assist and look unconcerned.

Government ignores our letters to get us more teachers - School Management

One of the Vice Principals at the school who does not want his name in print because of victimization said it is the parent through the PTA that employ many of the teachers at the school. 

The Vice Principal said the government has refused to respond to different letters written in the last three years by the school to seek for new teachers for some subjects. 

He also revealed that each student pay N1, 000 (one thousand naira) per term for the employment of mathematics teacher and other subjects. 

"The students are paying N1,000 per term for the employment of mathematics teacher. It is not the school that is collecting it, but the Parent Teachers Association. 

"It is the parents that employed the teachers for some subjects where we are understaffed like Mathematics and other subjects like that.

"Imagine in a big school like this, it is only one mathematics teacher we have. Even the mathematics teacher is a Statistician, not a pure mathematics teacher.

"We have written severally to the state government, but no response in the last 3years, so the parents decided that as a way of supporting the school in improving the standard, they employed some of these teachers and pay them in the subjects we are lacking teachers. We have employed about two mathematics teachers to support the other one on ground and other subjects.

"We have area of deficiency. So, it is not the school authority that is collecting the money but the parents through a sub-committee they constituted in their meeting", he noted. 

Free education by Dapo Abiodun-led administration is a 'trick' to deceive people- NUT 

The Nigeria Union of Teachers, Ogun State chapter has described the free education policy by the state government as a 'trick' to deceive people. 

The State Chairman of NUT, Abiodun Akinola decried the state of public schools in the state, adding that there was shortage of teachers.

The chairman noted that lack of teachers has contributed to the decadence in the state.

"The issue of shortage of teachers is a general thing. There is no school you enter that they have enough teacher. I mean in Ogun State.

"There is virtually no school that have enough teachers. You can only help us publicize that all schools are short of teachers and the effect of shortage will bring them out.

"When the children are supposed to be in the classroom, the subject they are having at that period, there is no teacher to come and teach them. Those children will engage in something which will be evil".

Akinola further said: "free education is a complete trick by government. A complete way of putting us into slavery. They are offering free education according to their policy, help me ask them, how many of their children are involved in this free education? Why do they have to pay exorbitantly on the education of their children? Deceiving the poor masses that they are giving them free education. 

"There are no infrastructure in schools, no teaching materials in schools, no teachers in schools, and you said you're offering, what are you offering?"

Government cannot offer free education, parents need to play major roles - Public Analyst

A public analyst, Dr. Kunle Ashimi, however, said the responsibility of providing quality education should not be shoulder on the government alone. 

Ashimi who insisted that education was not totally free in the 1980s, stressed that parents also have major roles to play in ensuring that their children get proper education. 

He maintained that no government can offer a total free education because it is expensive to run. 

According to him, "I will tell you that it is not a new trend. Government has really just been paying lip service with free education. It is just electioneering campaign.

He added, "Even when I was in secondary in the late 80s, we used to have PTA teachers; people that were employed by the PTA and paid for by the PTA. 

"So, it is not a new thing but it is getting worse. So, it has always been a thing, at least because as far as I know, for more than 40 years, go and find out what they call PTA teachers, sometimes it is the old students that employ teachers. Even as far back as then for this people that are serious about education."

Ashimi, however, said education cannot be left in the hand of the government who have a lot of other things to do. 

He said,"we cannot leave education totally in the hands of government because they see it as social charity to the masses, at least they are helping us. We need to also contribute something. 

"Nothing in life is free, somebody pay for it. If they say there is free health, it means government is paying for it. 

"One of the problems of so-called teachers is that the government is not paying enough. Do you know the number of doctors and nurses that are leaving this country for better climes? 

"Now, if you go to the university system too, you see all these folks in ASUU, the same Nigerians who are not ready to pay N50,000 or N100,000 for public universities, are going to be paying millions for universities abroad. They have the believe of entitlement that it must be free when it is in our country, but we are ready to pay for it when it is outside the country.

"I'm not saying education should be out of the reach of the masses but, there must be a meeting point where something actually pay for it. 

"We must all decide how we want to help our educational system and everybody agree. And not where somebody is fooling us that they are offering free education and they don't have the funds to develop the system, pay the necessary workers, provide the tools and infrastructure. Then it is not working. The quality of graduates being produced these days is not just it."

For two weeks, efforts to get the Ogun State Government's reaction was unsuccessful as many calls and text messages sent to the MTN line of the state Commissioner for Education, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu was not responded to as at the time of filing this report.

This is the third time, the Commissioner dodged our reporter's inquiry to his office.

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