By Dele Ogunyemi, Ibadan
Oyo State Government has approved the release of the sum of N526 million as running costs for its 2,500 primary schools and about 640 secondary schools.
A statement by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Seyi Makinde, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, which was made available to journalists in Ibadan on Monday confirmed that a sum of N400 million has been advanced to the secondary schools, while the primary schools got the sum of N126 million.
The amount is to cover the running grants of the schools for the first term of the 2019/2020 academic session.
According to the state government, Principals of secondary schools as well as Heads of primary schools across the state have been mandated to open accounts to receive the running grants.
There are 640 secondary schools spread across Oyo State, which have already started benefitting from the N1,000 per child per term budget for the schools.
“With the number of students in the secondary schools put at 400,000 and at N1,000 per child, the state would be spending the sum of N400 million a term on the secondary schools. The final figure for secondary schools would terminate at N1.2 billion per session,” the statement read in part.
The statement also indicated that the N126 million approved for the primary schools has been released to the heads of the various schools.
Whereas the Ministry of Education is managing the disbursements to secondary schools, the State Universal Basic Education Commission(SUBEB) is handling the disbursement to primary schools.
“The release of the funds is a fulfilment of Governor Seyi Makinde’s free education policy, which is already yielding positive results across the state,” the statement further indicated.
According to the statement, “the Governor of Oyo State has approved the disbursement of school running costs to primary and secondary schools. As we speak, all the schools should have been credited except those who failed to supply the required account details on time.
“We want to charge all stakeholders in the school system to judiciously apply the funds. They should also take note of the fact that the government will demand accountability on every kobo released to the schools.
“On no account should any school administrator join forces with unscrupulous elements who are seeking to derail the free education policy, which the government of the day in Oyo State is diligently implementing.
“The government will deal decisively with anyone caught attempting to derail the free and qualitative education policy or extorting students under whatever guise,” the statement read.