BY SAM EYOBOKA & VICTOR AHIUMA-YOUNG

LAGOS — AS the re-classification of public schools in Osun State continues to generate controversy, Archbishop-Emeritus of Lagos Catholic Archdiocese, Anthony Cardinal Okogie, the Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, and the Education Rights Campaign, ERC, a non-governmental organisation, have called on the state governor, Rauf Aregbesola to reverse the new education policy, warning that such a policy if implemented would negate on the educational fortunes of the state.

Reacting to the issue, Okogie wondered what might have necessitated the action of the Osun State government in wanting to merge schools, when it was very obvious that such a move would be inimical to the educational advancement of the state.

“I do not understand why Aregbesola would want to take such an action. What is the rationale behind it? What does he really want to achieve by such an action? Those who say they know all about education know nothing at all. No single individual or group can provide sound education. Qualitative education can only be enjoyed when there is ample co-operation between parents, the government and the church.

“The government cannot do it all alone. By trying to merge all these schools, including changing the single sex schools to co-educational, the government would only succeed in drawing back the hands of the clock,” he stated.

Also, the Education Rights Campaign, ERC, and Socialist Party of Nigeria, SPN, have called on Nigerians and all peace loving citizens to ensure that the merger is reverted.

This came as PSN claimed two of its members were arrested on Sunday by officials of the Department of State Service, DSS, while protesting the school merger alongside other activists in Oshogbo.

The group gave the names of those arrested as Comrade Alfred Adegoke, the protem State Chairman of SPN and Coordinator of Democratic Socialist Movement, DSM in the State and Comrade Oladele Omokunle (a member of both PSN and DSM), alleging that they were arrested at gun point when they gathered peacefully at a public meeting organized by the Campaign for Democratic and Workers Rights, CDWR, in the premises of the Fakunle Comprehensive High School, Oshogbo, the state capital..