Oyo Govt Dares FG, Vows To Participate In 2020 WAEC Examination
Akinade Alamu, Chairman, Oyo State Post-Primary Schools Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), has declared that nothing will stop state from partaking in the 2020 West African Senior School Examination (WASCE).
This is coming on the sideline of recent announcement and counter-declaration by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, that all secondary schools under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, would not partake in this year’s WASSCE school-based examinations due to the ravaging Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Speaking on a local radio station, ‘Fresh FM’ programme tagged: ‘COVID-19 Situation Room’, the Oyo TESCOM chairman condemned the poor funding and handling of the education sector by the Federal Government and wondered why the government was opening and locking down schools indefinitely while the aviation and other business sectors are reopening.
He said: “This government at Federal level is not helping things in the education sector. The meagre budgetary allocation for education shows clearly that they are less concerned. They have re-opened airline operation. Do they want to tell us that people would not sit together inside an aeroplane or what?
“This epidemic has come to stay with us and we should do everything possible to manage it until we get curable drugs for the virus. We should not lock down an important sector like education. If we say we are not writing WASSCE this year, how are we sure that the pandemic would have gone by next year. Is the government saying we are not going to write it next year if Coronavirus persists, God forbid?
The most important thing is to make adequate provisions for the safety of our students, which we have done and we would continue to do so as events unfold.
“Before we resume in Oyo State, all the stakeholders in the education sector in the state that include TESCOM, SUBEB, PTA and others held meetings with the state COVID-19 management team to fashion ways forward for school resumption,” he added.
