Upgrading Osun College to a university sparks protests
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Members of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union are holding a peaceful protest against what they call unresolved issues resulting from the transformation of Osun State College of Education into a university.
The protesting teachers are being led by the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Colleges of Education, Dr. Smart Olugbeko, to express their displeasure at the lack of communication from the state government on the fate of the teachers there and students as a result of the upgrade.
Olugbeko said, "There is a need to amend certain state laws accordingly, such as (but not limited to) the Pension Reform Act and other establishment regulations that designate the institution like COE Ilesa. This very important step would remove legal landmines from the path of the "new" university.
"We use this means to request a certified copy of the law establishing UNILESA through the COE llesa upgrade. As critical stakeholders, it is relevant for us to query the law with our concerns on certain transitional issues.
"Most importantly, it is necessary to establish the response of the UNILESA Act or for the implementation guidelines to pay particular attention to all important questions of what happens to COE Ilesa? The will college be abolished or will it be moved or merged with another college?
"What happens to existing COE Ilesa students who offer NCE programs and affiliate degree programs? How do they graduate appropriately after taking off from college?"
The South West Vice President, who is COEASU's zonal coordinator, Olusegun Lana, told our telephone correspondent that the protest was organized to draw the attention of the state government to fears of the union as well as on students and other stakeholders.
Lana said, "The state government needs to provide answers to our questions before the college-to-university transformation is implemented. So far, they haven't given us the law of the university contrary to their promise and we must interact with this law.
“They also did not call us to negotiate the transition issues we identified. For us, these issues must be negotiated and agreed upon before we can implement the upgrade, otherwise there will be a crisis But they seem to be in a hurry and don't care about our fears. What will happen to students, staff, staff pensions? We need answers to these questions before implementation.
“We need more than verbal assurances, we need to sit down and negotiate these issues to avoid future problems for us and the university. They have been elusive and this is creating anxiety.”< /p>
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola had, during the signing of the bill for the transformation of the college into a university in September, said that the proposed university had been carefully designed as a "resolutely entrepreneurial and innovative institution".
>The governor also said the institution would be funded by a combination of sources such as government, community, industry and other stakeholders without putting unnecessary pressure on state finances.< /p>
Please share this story:
Please share this story:
Members of the Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union are holding a peaceful protest against what they call unresolved issues resulting from the transformation of Osun State College of Education into a university.
The protesting teachers are being led by the National President of the Academic Staff Union of Colleges of Education, Dr. Smart Olugbeko, to express their displeasure at the lack of communication from the state government on the fate of the teachers there and students as a result of the upgrade.
Olugbeko said, "There is a need to amend certain state laws accordingly, such as (but not limited to) the Pension Reform Act and other establishment regulations that designate the institution like COE Ilesa. This very important step would remove legal landmines from the path of the "new" university.
"We use this means to request a certified copy of the law establishing UNILESA through the COE llesa upgrade. As critical stakeholders, it is relevant for us to query the law with our concerns on certain transitional issues.
"Most importantly, it is necessary to establish the response of the UNILESA Act or for the implementation guidelines to pay particular attention to all important questions of what happens to COE Ilesa? The will college be abolished or will it be moved or merged with another college?
"What happens to existing COE Ilesa students who offer NCE programs and affiliate degree programs? How do they graduate appropriately after taking off from college?"
The South West Vice President, who is COEASU's zonal coordinator, Olusegun Lana, told our telephone correspondent that the protest was organized to draw the attention of the state government to fears of the union as well as on students and other stakeholders.
Lana said, "The state government needs to provide answers to our questions before the college-to-university transformation is implemented. So far, they haven't given us the law of the university contrary to their promise and we must interact with this law.
“They also did not call us to negotiate the transition issues we identified. For us, these issues must be negotiated and agreed upon before we can implement the upgrade, otherwise there will be a crisis But they seem to be in a hurry and don't care about our fears. What will happen to students, staff, staff pensions? We need answers to these questions before implementation.
“We need more than verbal assurances, we need to sit down and negotiate these issues to avoid future problems for us and the university. They have been elusive and this is creating anxiety.”< /p>
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola had, during the signing of the bill for the transformation of the college into a university in September, said that the proposed university had been carefully designed as a "resolutely entrepreneurial and innovative institution".
>The governor also said the institution would be funded by a combination of sources such as government, community, industry and other stakeholders without putting unnecessary pressure on state finances.< /p>
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