Students losing motivation to go school – Stakeholders appeal to Adeleke
Withheld LG funds, frozen accounts responsible – Education Commissioner
Parents, students and other stakeholders in the disability community in Osun State have described the continued closure of schools for special needs in the state over inability of the Governor Ademola Adeleke-led government to fulfil obligations to the schools, as misplacement of priority and disregard for the future of the children with disability.
InsightMedia gathered nine of the ten Schools for Special Needs across the state have not resumed for the 2026/2027 academic sessions, four weeks after the resumption period.
This Correspondent gathered that the inability of the Osun State Government to make provision for feeding of the students and pupils is the reason the schools have not resumed.
Parents who took their wards to the schools in Osogbo were asked to take them back as the provision for their feeding has not been made available.
Schools for Special Needs falls under the state government.
Feeding crisis in schools
According to sources who spoke with InsightMedia, the feeding crisis started in the third term of 2025/2026 academic as Principal and Headmasters of the school allegedly got food items meant for students for third term on credits.
Sources within the system told our correspondent that the crisis began in the 2025/2026 academic session as heads of the schools got food items on credits last term.
“The students mostly reside in hostels and the feeding has been the responsibility of the government. I was told that the crisis started last session. The principal and headmasters got food for last term on credits and they have not paid. So, this term, they cannot do the same thing,” the source said.
The JONAPWD chairman added that he is aware that some parents have brought the kids to school but were turned back by the management but feeding is core to the special education system.
On Wednesday, the Commissioner for Education, Hon. Dipo Eluwole visited the premises of the school in Osogbo where he met with the teachers who were on ground.
Sources at the meeting said the Commissioner did not give any cogent assurances but only attributed the crisis to inability of the state government to access the local government funds.
“The Commissioner did not give us any assurance. He said the work is going on. He added that the problem is as a result of the withheld local government funds,” the source said.
I believe that the government knows the way to get the money out for these kids. If the government wants to embark on any other project of importance today, they (government officials) will get the money needed. The future of these kids should be prioritized.
Withheld LG funds, frozen accounts responsible – Govt
Reacting to the development, Commissioner for Education, Dipo Eluwole attributed the development to inability of the state government to access the local government funds and freezing of the state accounts by a federal high court over debt owed by past administrations.
Eluwole accused the Federal Government of “withholding the funds for political reasons”, stating that the state has continued to shoulder the responsibility of payment of salaries of the local government workers.
Eluwole said, “the state government is making frantic efforts on it. The problem was caused by the withholding of our local government allocation by the federal government for political reasons. We thought they will release the funds after the elections but it has not been done and that’s where we have salaries of teachers.
“Government has been taking all these responsibilities before but now we don’t have such capacities again. We thought it wise that instead of them to go to school without feeding, they should remain in the custody of their parents pending when everything will be settled.
“More so, the state government accounts have been frozen because a contractor took the government to court over debt owed by the past governments. So, even if we have money in our accounts now, we cannot spend anything now,” Eluwole said.
When asked when the matter could be resolved, Eluwole did not give specific timeline. He only said “very soon”.
Govt breaching Disability Law it passed
The continued closure of the schools is a flagrant breach of the Osun State Discrimination Against Persons With Disabilities (Prohibition) Bill, 2023 which was passed by the current Assembly and signed by Governor Adeleke.
Section 18 of the Act mandates the State to provide free and unfettered education to the persons with a disability.
The section reads, “A person with disability shall have an unfettered right to education without discrimination or segregation in any form”.
“A person with disability is entitled to free education to secondary school level.”
Stakeholders, disability community lament continued closure, appeal to govt
Speaking at a recently held conference, the Team Lead of One House Development Initiative, Tubosun Olabomi said his organization has called for an upward review of the N120/meal allocation given to each people.
He also called on the Ministry of Education and the Osun state government to prioritise the lives of students with disabilities.
Olabomi said, “We also want to notify the government as many of us seem to want to believe that our kind-hearted governor may not have heard that we have complained about the ₦120/meal that was provided for our children which we were hoping to receive some upgrade on but unfortunately, these children have not had any provision for their feeding for one whole session. This is the reason they have not resumed and the reason they are not represented at this Nation Building Conference as normal to commemorate Independence Day with us. We do humbly request that the government and all relevant stakeholders in this space help us look into this and solve it speedily, once and for all”.
Also speaking with our correspondent, disability right advocate, Mrs Funmilayo Abdullahi described the closure as breach of fundamental rights of persons with disabilities to education, adding that parents and students are already frustrated with the development.
She called on the state government to ensure that right things are done to bring the students back to schools.
An emotional Abdullahi said, “being a person with disability, it is a sad development for me because I have a number of parents who took their children to school due to sensitization we organized for them but now, they are frustrated.”
She also explained that the children, whose orientation about education has hitherto changed, are currently expressing sadness over continued stay at home.