The Osun State Government has blamed the continued closure of special needs schools in the state on the Federal Government’s withholding of local government allocation and a court order freezing state accounts.
The State Commissioner for Education, Dipo Eluwole, disclosed this on Wednesday, explaining why students with special needs have not returned to school for the term.
Addressing journalists at the school for the handicapped, Osogbo, Eluwole said the state runs 10 special needs boarding schools where students are housed and fed free of charge, with funding for their upkeep sourced from local government allocation which has been withheld since February last year.
According to him, the situation was worsened by the freezing of state government accounts following a court judgment obtained by a contractor over debts owed by the previous administration.
He said the government is currently managing to pay staff salaries but cannot guarantee feeding and welfare of students in the boarding facilities, hence the reason they remain at home.
“The situation at hand is glaring. It is unfortunate that this happened. Everybody knows that Osun State local government allocation has been withheld since February last year, and that is where the provision for the catering of these schools comes from.
“We have 10 schools for the special needs in the state. They are being housed and catered for, with free feeding throughout. But because the money meant for those provisions was not forthcoming, there was a problem.
“Now, the government is managing to pay the staff working there and provide food and everything. But as we have it now, accounts of the state government have been frozen by the bank as a result of debt owed by the previous administration. They owed a contractor, and the contractor went to court. The end result was the freezing of the state’s account of the state.
“With all this, can we allow the students to come into the school? If we put them in the school now, who will feed them? Where will they get food to eat? Will parents come from home to bring them food? It is not possible,” Eluwole stated.
The Commissioner said the teachers at the schools remain at their duty posts and have pledged to make up for lost time.
He appealed to the Federal Government to release the seized local government allocation.
“So that is just it. There is nothing we can do for now. We are using this opportunity to beg the Federal Government to please, for God’s sake, release the allocation of the local governments,” Eluwole added.
