Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko and schoolchildren at the inauguration of one of the 51 Mega Primary Schools
With the establishment of mega schools in Ondo State, the government is set to bridge the gap in centres of learning for children of the rich and the poor. Martins Ifijeh writes
For many decades, criminal neglect, lack of will power to tackle educational decadence from the root, policy summersault and insensitivity among office holders, has prevented millions of children from accessing quality basic education, both in primary and secondary school levels, leaving them poorly prepared to add value to their communities and nation at large.
From the North to South and across all states of the federation, the scenario is familiar. There is a sharp divide between quality of education in private schools and what obtain in public schools. An average public primary school is an eye sore, making one wonder if they are places of learning or animal farms; with dilapidated buildings, roofless tops, half baked and poorly motivated teachers, and lack of table and chairs; causing the children to learn on bare floors in make-shift classes or at best, under trees, it is no longer news that millions of children are going through suffering in the name of learning.
In contrast, an average private school in the country exhibits some level of model for learning, which has continually aided the children of the rich and middle class to patronise them, leaving the nation’s poor to send their children to government schools where nothing can be written home about.
According to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), forty per cent of Nigerian children aged 6-11 do not attend any primary school with the Northern region recording the lowest school attendance rate in the country. Despite a significant increase in net enrollment rates in recent years, it is estimated that about 4.7 million children of primary school age are still not in school.
Available information suggests that only the children of the elitist 10 per cent have access to the country’s best primary and secondary schools, which are mostly private-owned institutions, thereby acquiring the necessary mental tools to prepare to recycle and dominate the remaining 90 per cent poor Nigerians through the knowledge acquired from paying for quality education, which the majority of Nigerians do not have the deep financial pocket to acquire.
For every parent, their dream is to send their children to good private primary schools or at best specialised public schools like some Federal Government Schools or university primary or secondary schools because they want their children to learn in conducive and enabling environment.
But in Ondo State, the case is not the same. The dream of every parent is to send their children to public schools; the ones built by Governor Olusegun Mimiko, called the Caring Heart Mega Schools, established to target both the children of the rich and those of the less privileged.
The mega schools, which are flip sides from the conventional public schools in Ondo State, could be mistaken for schools only meant for children of high government officials because of the ambience they present. With state of the art structures, equipped with modern facilities to give the children optimal and conducive sense of learning; good recreational centres, world class libraries and class rooms, laced with computer systems, among others, there is no better gift for the children in Ondo State, especially those of the poor, who would enjoy proper primary educational training, even at no cost.
The initiative, which started several years ago, according to the Governor, was chiefly to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor in the state, as well as make a point that every child, irrespective of status deserve quality education and should be given one.
Speaking during the commissioning of one of the mega schools, the St. Francis Mega Primary
School, Owo, Governor Mimiko described the project as a benchmark for reviving basic education, adding that this was not only the best project for elementary education in the country, but in Africa as a whole.
He remarked that the project conformed with the global demands of elementary studies, as it provides equal opportunities for children of all strata of the society to learn under a conducive atmosphere and exposure to modern facilities.
“Our mega school concept is to create a new education infrastructure that will make our pupils globally competitive. We are determined to give them the best quality education right from
the foundation,” Mimiko added.
He stressed further that his administration would not relent until education in the state had gone through an irrevocable transformation that would predispose children to access ideal basic education.
The reason for the establishment of the over 50 mega schools across the 18 local government areas of the state is not far-fetched. Before Mimiko became the governor, the State’s performances in the Senior School Certificate Examinations, SSCE, was disappointingly poor, despite being one of the states with the highest academia in the country.
This perhaps informed why educational decline in the state is being tackled from the elementary education through the mega school initiative.
In a recent speech, the State Commissioner for Education, Mr. Jide Adejuyigbe, explained that the implementation committee set up by the state government in collaboration with the community representatives, had enjoyed tremendous support from the people, hence the success in establishing the mega schools across the state.
He also explained that the state government has put in place free bus shuttles, which would be enjoyed by pupils of these various mega schools, thereby placing priority on not just the establishment of the schools, but in making sure the children attend them.
Speaking to THISDAY recently, the Commissioner for Health, Ondo State, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, stated that both the Health Ministry and the Education Ministry have been laced together through the Mega School Initiative and the ORIREWA Initiative, so as to provide synergy between good health and quality education.
According to him, for any child in Ondo State to qualify to attend the Mega Schools and enjoy free bus shuttles, to and from school, the parents must access the ORIREWA programme.
ORIREWA is an acronym for Ondo State Routine Immunisation Reaching Every Ward, aimed at encouraging parents to present their children for routine immunisation, from polio and other preventable diseases. Adding that every child immunised against the various preventable diseases, would most likely live long to enjoy the gains of the Mega School Initiative.
“This programme is also recording good success just like the Abiye and the Agbebiye because we put mechanism in place that encourages our mothers to bring their children to our various health facilities for all round immunisation. Children who die before the age of five will obviously not benefit from our free bus shuttle and will not attend our mega schools. So, for them to benefit, they must live beyond the age of five, and one of the guarantee for that is that they must be immunised with all the necessary vaccinations. The mothers will also be entitled to micro credits,” he said.
In addition, the state government has also embarked on training and re-training of teachers to meet the new demands occasioned by the establishment of the mega schools; something different from what the teachers were previously used to.
According the state government, to sustain environmental cleanliness, ensure institutional maintenance of buildings, plants and machineries, the Mega Schools are to be outsourced to Facility Managers who will ensure that the ambience at these schools were not only made conducive to learning, but, that the teaching tools and equipments were at their functional best.
Speaking with a resident of Owo, whose children attend the St. Francis Mega School, Mrs. Kemi Kayode, she explained that the gesture from the state government has afforded her children the opportunity to attend school in a conducive environment with computers and other modern facilities in place.
“I remember several years ago, the look of our primary schools was nothing to write home about. In my time we sat on floors to listen to our teachers, but I am glad my children are not repeating the same thing. They are in a school with good structures, modern facilities, just like the way they are in universities,” she explained.
She therefore thanked the state government for the initiative, which she said will help in guaranteeing the future of her children.
The 21st-Century digitally compliant centres of learning, among many departures from the past, accommodate either 1050 pupils for the Type-1 or 525 pupils for the Type-2, with special features like computer-rooms, music-rooms, art-galleries, demonstration farms, sports-centres, renewable energy technology as back-up supply for conventional electricity supply, among others.
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