Osun education policy not against any religion – Aregbesola

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola

Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has again said that the reclassification of schools by his administration is not aimed at obliterating the Christian heritage or the legacies of any other group.

The governor said this in Osogbo, the Osun State capital, on Wednesday at the opening of the 23rd state congress of the All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools.

Aregbesola has been under attacks, especially from the

Osun State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, for merging male pupils and hijab-wearing pupils with those in Christian's mission public schools.

CAN accused the governor of planning to obliterate the legacies of Christian missionaries in the state with the policy and demanded that the policy be reversed or schools be returned to their owners.

But the governor said that his action was primarily aimed at addressing the decay in the education sector without any religious motive.

He said, "Our actions hitherto in this sector have been towards the transformation of the blueprint of that summit into reality. With unprecedentedly creative and focused statecraft, our administration has stormed and decimated the Bastille of disorganised educational system in Osun.

"The school reclassification is not an idea informed by religious sentiments or momentary impulse. We merged schools not because we want to silence any group, destroy cherished legacies or to unduly favour any religious or social group above another.

"The overall goal of the policy is to enable us deploy our little resources evenly and judiciously across our public schools. With the reclassification, we are better placed to give different categories of learners the right attention suitable to their ages."

The President of ANCOPSS in Osun State, Mrs. Motunrayo Olagunju, who lauded the new policy, warned the people of the state against bringing religion and politics to the education sector.

She commended the initiative of the governor and described the new policy as the best thing that had happened in the education sector in the state.