Ogun State Teaching Service Commission has held an interactive session with Principals of Public Secondary Schools in the State with a call on them to give priority attention to the fundamental rights of the teaching, non-teaching staff and students in their schools as they take steps to ensure discipline, improved performance and orderliness.
Speaking at the meeting held in Abeokuta, Chairman of the Commission, Ms Olubukunola Onabanjo said the call became imperative because of recent developments which had given bad publicity to the Commission, enjoining them to ensure effective teaching, learning and strict adherence to government policies on affordable and qualitative education programme.
She charged the principals to avoid any action that could tarnish the image of the Commission and urged them to ensure effective monitoring of academic activities in the school system to better academic performance.
“Principals should obey and adhere strictly to government policies especially on levies. Levies should be paid at the beginning of the term. Principals should on no account collect levies for three terms at the beginning of the year” She advised.
Speaking further, she counseled them to cultivate a good working relationship with the PTA and the community, adding that school administration must be centralized and democratized and that where necessary, delegation of responsibilities should be backed up with sufficient authority.
Also speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Mr Ayodele Koleade stated that the Commission’s major mandate and that of school administrators was to ensure effective teaching and learning in schools through efficient management of scares resources, monitoring and supervision of the staff.
Koleade maintained that to achieve this mandate, all hands must be on desk and as school heads, they must carry out necessary internal purging and cleansing, urging them to always be civil in the course of carrying out their duties.
“We must maintain high academic and moral standard in our schools, to facilitate the achievement of these indices, we need to put in place certain inputs which are sine-qua-non for the efficient discharge of our roles and responsibilities which are some of the key issues invariably are areas of our focus today” Koleade noted.
Earlier in his welcome address, Chairman, All Nigerian Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools in the State, Alhaji Dejo Kadiri charged the principals to take a critical assessment of issues, as well as make significant and positive changes to improve on their overall performance.
In a communiqué, the participants, among other things, commended the State Government for the provision of infrastructural facilities, recruitment and retention of qualified staff in the public secondary schools as well as regular payment of running cost.
