23rd December, 2019
The Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Daud Sangodoyin, has said that the state government would encourage school competitions in 2020 to further boost education in the state.
He stated this while receiving members of a non-governmental organisation ‘Raising Girls Ambition’ (RAGA), who paid him a courtesy visit in his office on Monday in Ibadan.
Sangodoyin commended the organisers of the school competition for joining hands with the government to develop the education sector.
“Our focus as educationists and as a ministry is that we want to encourage school competitions in 2020.
“We want to thank the organisers for blending both the public and private schools together.
“Three weeks ago, we started intervention classes and we now have 1,000 compendia of past questions and answers in 10 subjects and we have started distributing it to SSS III students in both public and private schools across the state,” he said.
Sangodoyin stated that the Gov. Seyi Makinde-led administration’s free education policy at both primary and secondary levels was aimed at making schooling attractive to pupils and students.
“Even as far as our tertiary institutions are concerned, we are also considering a reduction of tuition fees and all other charges being paid by the students,” he said.
In her remarks, Dr Adepeju Oti, the Convener of RAGA, said that the organisation’s aim was to reward excellence by honouring the girls who competed in the RAGA 2019 essay, debate and quiz competitions.
“We want the public to know what we are doing and that we are doing it to bring about more partnership between us and the ministries, starting with the ministry of education.
“The ministry has been partnering with us since 2015, but we want more.
“RAGA believes that for many parents in our society, females have more or less become second class citizens.
“Many people do not really provide adequately for their girls; even schools are part of the network of repression,” she said.
Oti further said that the organisation was raising girls who would compete favourably with their male counterparts without discrimination and prejudice.
The event featured the formal presentation of awards to deserving partners, winners of various competitions and scholarship awardees at the recent RAGA 2019 international conference
Students, who participated and came first, second and third in various competitions were to be presented prizes.
Among the schools given awards were Baptist Secondary School, Liberty Road, Command Day School, Mokola, Command Day School, Apata, Lead City International School, Jericho, and All Saints College, all in Ibadan.