Fresh disagreement has emerged between the Osun State Government and Oluwole Oke, the House of Representatives member representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency over claims surrounding an aborted plan to recruit part-time teachers for public schools in the state.
The controversy centres on an allegation by Oke, who claimed that a proposed recruitment of about 700 teachers was stopped by the state government.
According to the lawmaker, the initiative was conceived as an educational intervention targeted at addressing acute manpower shortages in public schools within his constituency.
However, the Osun State Government has denied any knowledge of, or involvement in, halting such a recruitment exercise, describing the allegation as unfounded.
Reacting to the claim, the Commissioner for Education, Dipo Eluwole, said the ministry was unaware of any formal arrangement to recruit teachers into public schools.
“As the Commissioner for Education, I am hearing this for the first time. There is nothing of such,” Eluwole said.
He added that no directive was issued by the government to stop any recruitment exercise linked to the federal lawmaker, noting that part-time teachers already exist in schools through Parent-Teacher Associations.
“Nobody stopped anything. There are PTA teachers everywhere. He is only trying to score a political point,” the commissioner stated.
In contrast, Oke maintained that the recruitment was planned under his Education Trust Fund as a constituency-based intervention rather than a parallel employment scheme.
He explained that the exercise was intended to temporarily bridge gaps in staffing, particularly in core subjects, pending long-term solutions by the state government.
“At the time, schools across Ijesa North were critically understaffed, with overcrowded classrooms and declining learning outcomes,” Oke said.
He disclosed that applications were openly invited from qualified NCE holders and university graduates, with shortlisted candidates scheduled for a multi-stage screening process.
According to him, the screening was to include aptitude tests, interviews, verification of credentials and micro-teaching sessions, all coordinated at the Ipetu-Ijesa Campus of Osun State University.
Oke alleged that after weeks of preparation by the organising committee, the process was suddenly discontinued without formal engagement or an alternative framework.
“There was no consultation, no harmonisation plan and no absorption arrangement. The exercise was simply halted,” he said.
He further claimed that the state government later announced its own teachers’ recruitment exercise, which he viewed as coincidental with the suspension of his initiative.
Osun govt, lawmaker clash over alleged halted teachers recruitment
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