The Osun State House of Assembly is set to enact a law that would peg the age of secondary school to minimum of eighteen years.
Speaker of the Assembly, Rt. Hon. Timothy Owoeye made this known on Tuesday while delivering his goodwill message at the Osun Youth Agenda High-Level Stakeholder’s Policy Dialogue organised by a non-governmental organization in the state Kimpact Development Initiative with support from USAID, UKAid and NDI.
Owoeye condemned the attitude of parents, saying “the current practices of underage high school leavers without minimum required skills have contributed greatly to the rate of unemployment in the country.”
“We will hold a public hearing to get the view of parents, students and education stakeholders. The bill if passed into law would checkmate the growing trend of underage secondary school leavers which later put some of the students into societal and psychological problems after graduation. The bill will better our system, make our youth productive and make our society better.” he said
Owoeye who compared the system with that of the developed countries, said those countries have put legal measures in place to ensure that such early high school leavers were productively engaged for some time before they are permitted to further their studies.
The speaker said although, Osun will be the first state to enact such law but he will work with other state assemblies and national assembly to ensure they bring out same.
