A former Permanent Secretary of the Osun State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Alhaji Dr. Abdulfatai Kolawole, JP, has raised the alarm over what he described as the gradual commercialisation of basic education in the state, warning that the practice violates existing laws and binding court judgments.
Kolawole, a frontline educationist, said his intervention was guided strictly by legal provisions and authoritative judicial pronouncements, not political considerations.
“As an Osun State frontline educationist and former Permanent Secretary of SUBEB, I find it necessary to speak on the increasingly troubling state of basic education, guided strictly by the law and by authoritative judicial pronouncements, not political considerations,” he said.
Citing a landmark judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, delivered by Justice D.E. Osiagor, Kolawole stressed that basic education in Nigeria is compulsory, free and non-negotiable, with governments at all levels under statutory obligation to fully implement it.
“Beyond the provisions of the Universal Basic Education Act, the Federal High Court clearly ruled that basic education in Nigeria is compulsory, free, and non-negotiable, and that governments at all levels have a statutory obligation to ensure its full implementation,” he stated.
According to him, the ruling leaves “no room for ambiguity, administrative discretion, or policy manipulation,” adding that he unequivocally aligns himself with the judgment on compulsory education.
Kolawole expressed concern that parents in Osun State are increasingly being compelled to pay for registration, examinations, levies, instructional materials and other charges in public primary and junior secondary schools, a development he said contradicts both the spirit and letter of the law.
“Against this legal backdrop, it is deeply concerning that basic education in Osun State is gradually being commercialised. This practice unfairly shifts government responsibility onto poor and hapless citizens and undermines public confidence in the education system,” he said.
He also lamented the acute shortage of teachers in public schools across the state, noting that many classrooms are either overstretched or left unattended due to lack of recruitment.
“Classrooms are overstretched or left unattended, not because children lack the desire to learn, but because teachers are not being employed,” Kolawole noted, urging the state government to urgently address the gap.
“The Osun State Government must urgently address this gap. A system that fails to recruit teachers while permitting financial burdens on parents is both educationally unsound and legally indefensible,” he added.
The former SUBEB Permanent Secretary warned that compromising basic education would have grave consequences for society, including rising illiteracy, youth unemployment and insecurity.
“Free basic education is not negotiable, not optional, and not subject to political debate,” he stressed.
Kolawole said he was speaking as “a teacher by training, an education administrator by experience, and a concerned citizen committed to the future of Osun State,” adding that compliance with court rulings on free basic education remains both a legal obligation and a moral duty.
“Upholding free basic education in line with Federal Court rulings is not a political statement; it is a legal obligation and a moral duty,” he said.
