Senator Ibikunle Amosun fires workers for drafting ‘offensive’ exam questions

Firstclass newsline gathered that Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun,
has ordered the firing of six officials of the state Ministry of
Education, Science and Technology, including a secondary school
teacher, over alleged offensive examination question.
Those sacked include two Grade Level 17 officers, Mrs. Folashade
Oresegun, who was the Director, Education Support Services, and Mr.
Rotimi Odunsi, who was the Director, Curriculum Development and
Evaluation, and a Grade Level 16 officer, Mr. Majekodunmi Oluwole.
Others are a Grade Level 10 officer, Mr. E.O. Asegbe, a Grade Level 8
officer, Taylor Damilola , and an English Language teacher in
Mayflower Secondary School, Ikenne, Mr. Joel Adegbenro.
The sacking of both Oresegun and Odunsi has been converted to
compulsory retirement while the four others were summarily dismissed.
Firstclass newsline gathered that their offence might not be
unconnected with a comprehension passage in the English Language
examination conducted by the ministry for the Unified Examination in
Public Secondary Schools for the third term of the 2014/2015 academic
session.
The offensive section was Section C, where the pupils were asked to
summarise a comprehension passage on a policy defect on education.
It was alleged that it was considered too critical of the state government.
The section partly read, "There is no arguing about the fact that the
government is merely paying lip service to the development of
education. It is true that a lot of money is being spent on the
education sector but with little or no impact felt by the people,
except where we want to deceive ourselves.
"Many schools run by the government, which were formerly known for
academic excellence have suddenly lost their prestige and are living
on past glories. No wonder, many parents and guardians are
threateningly left with only one option, to withdraw their wards from
these schools to other ones that are better managed.
"The evidences to show that the government is not doing enough to
assist in the development of education are many. Even pupils in both
primary and secondary schools can volunteer a good list on their
finger tips.
"One of the numerous indications is the government's inability to pay
running cost to schools. The running cost is the token amount per
pupil paid to school administrators to run the affairs of the school
in a term. This has been neglected to pile up for several academic
sessions.
"Another one is the regular poor conduct of terminal examinations.
These examinations are not usually conducted as and when due. The
government may have one excuse or the other, but real educationists
know that appropriate timing is a strong factor in the process of
Continuous Assessment (CA) of students. Thus, a situation, where for
instance, the first term examination is shifted to second term is an
outright departure from the norms and ethics of Continuous
Assessment."
The summary passage was said to have been culled from Jola
Adegbenro'sIssues on Education Today.
The governor and some other top government officials were allegedly
angry with this section, which they believed made a veiled reference
to what obtained in the state.
Consequently, the embattled officials were invited to Abeokuta last
week to face a disciplinary panel set up by the state Bureau of
Establishment and Training, where they were quizzed.
The state's Head of Service, Mrs. Modupe Adekunle, while reacting to
the sacking, said the government followed the due process "because the
affected officials were given opportunity to defend themselves."
She said, "I am aware that not all of them were dismissed, some had
their appointment terminated and some were compulsorily retired.
"When the issue came up, the state government put in the necessary
process, a panel was set up to investigate and based on their
recommendations, the state Civil Service Commission has to decide. It
is a decision that has been relayed to the affected officers.
"The normal process was that a panel was set up, the report was
forwarded to the Civil Service Commission for the civil servants, the
Teaching Service Commission, for the teachers.
"The decision was in line with the civil service rule, due process was
followed to the latter."
Firstclassnewsline.net