Osun assembly speaker defends merger of Christian, Muslim schools

The decision to merge the schools has been criticized by religious leaders
The speaker of Osun state House of Assembly, Najeem Salaam, has defended the state government's decision to merge and re-classify the state's public schools.

Mr Salaam said the merger of Christian and Muslim schools, which has sparked outrage from religious leaders, was aimed at improving the standard of education.

He said this in Ejigbo when he paid a courtesy call on the Elejigbo of Ejigbo, Oba Omowonuola Oyesosin.
Mr Salaam appealed to the people of the state to support the government in efforts to actualise the goals of the policy.

He also appealed to religious leaders in the state to refrain from politicising the schools' merger and reclassification.
"There is nothing wrong with merging Christian and Muslim schools together," said Mr Salaam.

"This is a new government's policy aimed at improving the standard of education; I think we need to give the government the opportunity to experiment this new idea."
The speaker said that the government was only trying to use its meagre resources to improve the standard of education.

In his remarks, Oba Oyesosin urged the people of the state to cooperate with government in efforts to implement the new policy.

He said that the policy was to improve the standard of education and not to relegate any religious organisation.
The Osun Government introduced the schools' merger and reclassification programme, which grouped the public schools into three categories.

The first category is the elementary school for pupils with ages between six and nine years; the second is the medium school for students with ages between 10 and 14 years, while students within the 15 to 17 age bracket are to attend the high school. (NAN)