Oyo Pupil Set Classroom On Fire

There had been lingering crises since Monday in some secondary schools in the state following mass failure in the last promotion examinations.

The Oyo State Government has set a new promotion policy which states that only pupils with 50 per cent in Mathematics and English language will transit to the next class.

There was breach of the peace at the Isale-Oyo Community High School, Oyo town, after some pupils of the college reportedly set ablaze some classrooms over mass failure in their examination.

The aggrieved pupils stormed the school premises on Thursday morning charting solidarity songs.

They were said to have gone haywire afterwards, set fire to blocks of classrooms and fled the premises.

The PUNCH gathered that the school authorities alerted men of the Oyo State Fire Service, who responded swiftly to put out the fire.

Policemen were deployed in the school to restore peace but none of the pupils had been arrested as of the time of filing this report.

The disturbance, observers noted, marked the worst phase of the unrest that began days ago over mass failure in exams.

The school compound was deserted as teachers and other pupils reportedly fled for fear of being harmed.

Pupils of Anglican Secondary School in Oyo reportedly unleashed mayhem on their teachers and destroyed billboards bearing Governor Abiola Ajimobi’s picture.

The Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Prof. Banji Olowofela, lamented poor performance of pupils in external examinations, saying public schools could no longer continue to breed substandard pupils.

 “What government says is that there is no automatic promotion again. Our external examinations from1999 till date have been abysmally poor. If we push them to the outside world, we are not helping them. We are trying to give them the opportunity to rediscover themselves. The school has been closed indefinitely,” he added.


Punch