Ogun State Government on Sunday said the enrolment of students into its public secondary schools had risen from 292,324 in 2010/2011 to 387,915 in the 2011/2012 academic session.
The state government also said enrolment into its public primary schools increased from 406,890 in 2010/2011 to 506,002 in the 2012/2013 academic session.
It, however, said the development had resulted in the decline in the enrolment into private primary and secondary schools in the state.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Dr. Tunji Abimbola, said this in a statement.
Abimbola linked the increment in public schools to the overhauling of the education sector by the Senator Ibikunle Amosun-led administration.
He noted that over N278m had been spent on the rehabilitation of classrooms in 100 schools in the three senatorial districts of the state.
The statement read, “Enrolment figures into public secondary and primary schools in Ogun State have been on the upward swing since the advent of the Senator Ibikunle Amosun administration, investigations have revealed.
“Amosun, during his inauguration on May 29, 2011 declared free education in all its public secondary and primary schools, insisting that the government owes the citizenry the duty to ensure that education at the two tiers of education remains free to allow the children of the under privileged to benefit.
“The administration then followed up the declaration with the distribution of free textbooks and instructional materials to the students in 2012.
“Parents responded positively to the development by sending their children into the schools as figures gleaned from the department of Planning, Research and Statistics of the state Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, indicates that enrolment figure in both tiers of education is on the rise.”
Abimbola added that the enrolment was “an expression of confidence by parents in the free education policy of the state government”.
Abimbola however noted that the efforts to raise the number of students in public schools in the state had “negative effect on the enrolment figure of private schools in the state most of whose proprietors are groaning under low patronage”.