By Oyeniyi Esan
The parents and guardians of students of Government College, Ibadan, have kicked against the plan of the Oyo State Government to hand over the administration and management of the school to Government College Ibadan Old Boys Association (GCIOBA).
In the protest staged at the secretariat Ibadan on Thursday, the chairman of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), Prince Adeniyi Adeniji, lamented that the state government signed an agreement between the government and the Incorporated Trustees of the GCIOBA without the consent of the parents.
According to him, “The grievances, we are here to express, are based on the fact that the government doesn’t respect us as stakeholders of the school. The MoU signed between the government and GCIOBA should be made public with respect to transparency. We are of the opinion that the GCIOBA aims to privatise the school, by implication, the children of the poor will be denied access to the school. Are we to be hopeful of free education under the leadership of GCIOBA? IF Yes, they should make public how they intend to generate money to finance the education of our children, the future leaders we hope on.
“We are all members of the school’s governing board, why should we be excluded? It was a shocking revelation to wake up to the news that the Oyo Government is ready to hand over the school to GCIOBA. We held a meeting just a few weeks ago, and nothing of such was discussed. We want the government to critically look into this issue, and consider the plight of the poor and the weak in this decision of hand-over.
“What is the position of the parents and students in the formation of policy affecting their lives and future? The old boys want to take advantage of the name to hijack the school from the people and government of Oyo state, basically, most of the said achievements of the old boys are individual achievements.
“The future of these children is paramount to us. Some people are of the opinion that members of GCIOBA are land grabbers. We have submitted the amount these people realized from the big hall from January to March on weekly basis, without paying any revenue or tax to the government. We have seen things that have happened in the past, this is why we are afraid to have the destinies of children in their hands.
“We visited the House of Assembly on Tuesday and submitted a petition to the office of the Chairman of Education Committee, Hon. Femi Fowokanmi and we are not waiting alone for the legislative arms to look into this matter of urgency. This is the reason, we are appealing to the executive arm of government and good conscience of our amiable Governor Seyi Makinde to equally and critically examine this decision as he has done in the past. For an instance, the governor gave us 100 teachers when we requested from the 600 teachers he employed. They have met the governor and we are meeting the governor.
