Governor Amosun Sacks Workers For Setting Offensive Exam Questions

The Ogun State Governor, Senator
Ibikunle Amosun, has ordered the
sacking of six officials of the state
Ministry of Education, Science and
Technology, including a secondary
school teacher, over alleged offensive
examination question.

Those sacked include two Grade
Level 17 officers, Mrs. Folashade
Oresegun, who was the Director,
Education Support Services, and Mr.
Rotimi Odunsi, who was the Director,
Curriculum Development and
Evaluation, and a Grade Level 16
officer, Mr. Majekodunmi Oluwole.
Others are a Grade Level 10 officer,
Mr. E.O. Asegbe, a Grade Level 8
officer, Taylor Damilola , and an
English Language teacher in
Mayflower Secondary School, Ikenne,
Mr. Joel Adegbenro.
The sacking of both Oresegun and
Odunsi has been converted to
compulsory retirement while the
four others were summarily
dismissed.
Our correspondent gathered that
their offence might not be
unconnected with a comprehension
passage in the English Language
examination conducted by the
ministry for the Unified
Examination in Public Secondary
Schools for the third term of the
2014/2015 academic session.
The offensive section was Section C,
where the pupils were asked to
summarise a comprehension passage
on a policy defect on education.
It was alleged that it was considered
too critical of the state government.
The section partly read, “There is no
arguing about the fact that the
government is merely paying lip
service to the development of
education.
It is true that a lot of money is being
spent on the education sector but
with little or no impact felt by the
people, except where we want to
deceive ourselves.
“Many schools run by the
government, which were formerly
known for academic excellence have
suddenly lost their prestige and are
living on past glories.
No wonder, many parents and
guardians are threateningly left with
only one option, to withdraw their
wards from these schools to other
ones that are better managed.
“The evidences to show that the
government is not doing enough to
assist in the development of
education are many. Even pupils in
both primary and secondary schools
can volunteer a good list on their
finger tips.
“One of the numerous indications is
the government’s inability to pay
running cost to schools.
The running cost is the token
amount per pupil paid to school
administrators to run the affairs of
the school in a term. This has been
neglected to pile up for several
academic sessions.
“Another one is the regular poor
conduct of terminal examinations.
These examinations are not usually
conducted as and when due.
The government may have one
excuse or the other, but real
educationists know that appropriate
timing is a strong factor in the
process of Continuous Assessment
(CA) of students.
Thus, a situation, where for instance,
the first term examination is shifted
to second term is an outright
departure from the norms and ethics
of Continuous Assessment.”
The summary passage was said to
have been culled from Jola
Adegbenro’s Issues on Education
Today.
The governor and some other top
government officials were allegedly
angry with this section, which they
believed made a veiled reference to
what obtained in the state.
Consequently, the embattled officials
were invited to Abeokuta last week
to face a disciplinary panel set up by
the state Bureau of Establishment
and Training, where they were
quizzed.
The state’s Head of Service, Mrs.
Modupe Adekunle, while reacting to
the sacking, said the government
followed the due process “because
the affected officials were given
opportunity to defend themselves.”
She said, “I am aware that not all of
them were dismissed, some had their
appointment terminated and some
were compulsorily retired.
“When the issue came up, the state
government put in the necessary
process, a panel was set up to
investigate and based on their
recommendations, the state Civil
Service Commission has to decide. It
is a decision that has been relayed to
the affected officers.
“The normal process was that a
panel was set up, the report was
forwarded to the Civil Service
Commission for the civil servants,
the Teaching Service Commission,
for the teachers.
“The decision was in line with the
civil service rule, due process was
followed to the latter.”