EVALUATION OF INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOL EDUCATION: OSUN STATE EXPERIENCE.

Abstract

There is no doubting the fact that, the state of education in Osun before the advent of Aregbesola’s administration in late 2011 was not satisfying. The sector witnessed poor teacher morale, poor school infrastructures, ineffective school administration and poor learning outcomes. The situation can only be remediated by a critical non-conformist surgical approach to change. An irredentist change and innovation agent can only be the one to confront the herculean task. The government convocated an education summit to proffer solutions to the education problems facing the State. The summit recommended complete overhaul of the Osun education programme never seen in the annals of the nations education reforms .Particularly, the summit recommended a complete revamp of school infrastructures, a radical approach to education administration by decentralizing education management boards along senatorial zones and a reclassification of schools along age grades such that students of the same age grade could be found in same school environment. The result was a systemic change in the structure and face of Osun education with increased enrolment into schools at all levels coupled with improved performance of students of the State in West African School Certificate Examinations. Also there was an unprecedented improvement in school attendance, school retention and teachers’ morale. However, the programme had its own challenges both at the teething stage of the programmes and at its implementation. Dwindling government revenue resulting from economic recession made it difficult for government to pay recurrent expenditures which kept on increasing while capital expenditures suffers set back. This was worsened by the collapse in value of the Naira, forcing contract sums to be reviewed upward and changing revenue and expenditure projections. The paper concluded by recommending the Osun experiment to other States of the Federation. The various reforms and innovations should be sustained and immune from politicization irrespective of the government in power.