A disagreement has emerged between the Osun State Government and a member of the House of Representatives, Oluwole Oke, over claims that a planned recruitment of part-time teachers for public schools in the state was halted by the government.
Oke, who represents Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency, alleged that the state government stopped a proposed recruitment of about 700 teachers, which he said was designed to address acute staffing shortages in public schools within his constituency.
However, the Osun State Government has dismissed the claim, saying it neither authorised nor stopped any such recruitment exercise. The Commissioner for Education, Dipo Eluwole, said the ministry was unaware of any formal arrangement to recruit teachers into public schools under the initiative.
“As the Commissioner for Education, I am hearing this for the first time. There is nothing of such,” Eluwole said, adding that the government did not issue any directive to halt the exercise.
Eluwole further noted that part-time teachers already operate in schools through Parent-Teacher Associations, describing Oke’s allegation as politically motivated. “Nobody stopped anything. There are PTA teachers everywhere. He is only trying to score a political point,” he said.
In response, Oke maintained that the initiative was a constituency-based intervention under his Education Trust Fund, not a parallel employment programme. He said it was meant to temporarily fill manpower gaps, especially in core subjects, while the state worked on long-term solutions.
According to the lawmaker, applications were invited from qualified NCE holders and university graduates, with shortlisted candidates scheduled for screening, including aptitude tests, interviews, credential verification and micro-teaching sessions at the Ipetu-Ijesa campus of Osun State University.
Oke alleged that after weeks of preparation, the process was abruptly discontinued without consultation or an alternative framework, adding that the state government later announced its own teachers’ recruitment exercise, which he described as coincidental.