Oyo State Government’s policy is geared at developing sports at the primary school level and its pupils will soon dominate the sector at the national level, an official says.
The Co-ordinating Director, Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr Jacob Dairo, stated this in Ibadan on Tuesday during the distribution of sports equipment donated by the state government.
“SUBEB is poised to restore the leading position of the state in primary school sports activities and take school sports to an enviable height in Nigeria,” he said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the distribution of equipment to 82 public primary schools was in collaboration with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
Benefitting schools, from the three senatorial districts of the state, got sports equipment such as handballs, goalposts, nets, skipping ropes, table tennis bats, badminton rackets and others.
Dairo, who heads the board’s Schools Services Department, said SUBEB got delivery of the sports items courtesy of Gov. Seyi Makinde.
“The essence of the occasion is to officially flag off the distribution of the items to the various schools in the state.
“The Oyo State Government intends to catch pupils young through the facilities, and the items will enable pupils to participate actively in sports,” he said.
Dairo said the government would organise a sports competition among schools at local and zonal levels, while the overall winners would represent the state at national sports competitions.
He, however, charged the schools to take care of the items delivered to them, urging them to make proper use of the equipment for the purpose for which they were intended.
The Co-ordinating Director added that Gov. Makinde has also approved the commencement of the Agricultural Education Training Programme for 73 primary schools in all the state’s 33 Local Government Areas (LGAs).
He said the programme would help in training Education Secretaries, Heads of Section, Headteachers, Agricultural Studies teachers and School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) representatives from various local governments.
Dairo said a monitoring team would go round the schools to ensure that funds allocated for the training programme are properly utilised.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Oyo State Chapter, Mr Raji Oladimeji, applauded the initiatives put in place by the Oyo State Government for pupils.
The NUT Chairman said sports activities, which were almost moribund in most schools, were due to the topography of land in most schools.
“This development will however help resuscitate sports activities in the schools,” he said.
Also, the Chairman, Association of Primary School Headteachers of Nigeria, AOPSHON, Oyo State branch, Mr Adedeji Adekunle, appealed to the trainees to pay optimal attention to the teachings.
Adekunle also applauded Gov. Makinde for his support to basic education in the state.(NAN)
