Ogun Devises Strategies To Curb Cultism, As Education Ministry Defends 2022 Budget Before Assembly.

Ogun State Government has stepped up measures towards addressing social vices including the rising spate of cultism and hooliganism in secondary schools in the State, hence all parents will have to sign undertakings on behalf of their wards to be of good conduct within and out of the school environment.

The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, disclosed this while fielding questions on government's efforts to curb the menace, when taking his turn to defend the Ministry's 2022 budget presentation before the members of the State House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation led by Hon, Olakunle Sobukanla at the Assembly Complex, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta.

Arigbabu stated that government had redoubled its efforts at ensuring that the menace was nipped in the bud as stakeholders including parents, teachers and the security agents had come up with different approaches that would holistically address the emerging misconducts amongst the students.

He added that school based management committee was being put in place to serve as interdisciplinary source to track and report any act inimical to peace in school environment.

The Commissioner posited that the Ministry was equally reviving sporting activities to further engage pupils in extra-curriculum activites in addition to the resuscitation of moral teaching during morning devotion in line with covid 19 protocols to teach moral education to address the prevalent immorality amongst students.   

He stated further that the Ministry would further empower secondary school principals and strengthened the School Based Management Committee towards profiling all pupils in the school to weed off the bad eggs among them.

Defending the Ministry's proposal for next year, Arigbabu intimated the lawmakers that a total of N6.094bn was the total expenditure for 2022, whic consisted of N3.129bn for capital expenditure and N2.96bn for recurrent expenditure, just as its revenue target was fixed at N2.28bn.

He explained that N2.50bn was being earmarked for the construction of 60 units of a block of three classrooms, 49 units of a block of 2 classrooms, eight units of technical workshops/science laboratory and rehabilitation of public schools across the State