The Ogun State Government on Tuesday rolled out some measures aimed at combating unruly behaviours and other acts of indiscipline among students in public secondary schools in the state.
The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Professor Abayomi Arigbagbu, said several measures had been put in place to checkmate misconduct among the students, noting that the problem of misbehaviours among students is a reflection of what is happening in the larger society.
Arigbagbu said government would not fold its arms and allowed the incidences that happened in some of its schools last term recur.
The commissioner explained that series of meetings were held with all stakeholders in the education sector, aimed repositioning the schools.
“The state government has organised series of meetings with stakeholders in the state’s education sector, including principals and headteachers of public primary and secondary schools; owners of private schools in the state, Old Students’ Associations, security agents, NUT, ASSUS, PTA, among others”.
He identified poor parenting, improper upbringing, the issue of underage children; environmental factor; peer group influence and economic situation of the country as some of the factors responsible for these challenges.
The commissioner implored parents to play their roles in moulding their children to become responsible students, submitting that the children spent more hours at home than in the school.
“The state government is unhappy with events that occurred in some of our schools last term. It is important to note that issues of misbehaviours and misdemeanoirs are not something peculiar to schools in the state. What is happening is a reflection of what is happening in the larger society.
“It is unfortunate that this is happening in the state, a state that is noted for recording firsts in all areas of human endeavors.
“As responsible government, we cannot sit down and allow this development to consume us. We have critically looked at those issues and that is why we extended the resumption date for us to strategise the more on how to curtail it.
“We will continue to improve on the situation in our schools. We are addressing the issue of congestion in classes to promote effective and efficient teaching and learning process. The issue of dual registration will also be tackled,” he added.