MAKINDE HIRED OVER 12,000 TEACHERS IN SIX YEARS – TESCOM

Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, has increased the staff strength in public secondary schools from 13,730 in 2019 to 26,436 within six years of assuming office. This was revealed by the Chairperson of the Post Primary Schools’ Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Mrs. Olubukola Oladipo, during the Omituntun 2.0 Inter-Ministerial Briefing held Wednesday at the Governor’s Office in Ibadan.

According to a statement issued by the governor’s Special Adviser on Media, Sulaimon Olanrewaju, the government recruited 10,500 teaching and non-teaching staff in Makinde’s second term alone. Oladipo also disclosed that the commission created four new Educational Zones, increasing the total to ten, to enhance school administration efficiency. The zones now include Ibadan I-IV, Oyo, Ogbomoso, Kishi, Saki, Eruwa, and Iseyin.

In addition, the Directorate of Pension and Post Services was established to improve services for TESCOM retirees, and ten Tutors-General/Permanent Secretaries were appointed alongside a Permanent Secretary at the headquarters to strengthen supervision and monitoring.

She further noted that TESCOM successfully conducted promotion exercises covering 2017 to 2024 and, between 2024 and early 2025, recruited 7,500 teaching and 3,000 non-teaching staff to boost students’ academic performance. Oladipo said this large-scale recruitment has not only helped improve education outcomes but also created employment opportunities for youths, positively impacting their standard of living.

She added that the government continues to pay Running Grants to 695 public secondary schools to support school administration and that TESCOM now offers vehicle loans across its ten Zonal Offices. To ease the burden of travelling to headquarters, the commission has introduced e-payment systems for car loans.

Looking ahead, she revealed that plans are underway to train all 695 school principals in modern school management practices to align with 21st-century educational standards.