Inside Osun Community Where Children Face Difficulty To Access Education

• Residents Blame Abandonment Of Ilesa Water Project Amidst Deplorable State Of Amenities

EARLY childhood education plays a crucial role in the formative years of a child. The quality of education received by a child in his/her early years lays the foundation for all that is to come. It is a stage where children acquire and develop their cognitive and mental skills, which in turn shapes their cerebral development for the rest of their years on earth.

The right to education is an essential ingredient for every child. However, the situation in Aralapon Community in Ilesa, Osun State is different as children in the community do not have access to school, which may deprive them of the opportunity to shape their formative years.

Residents of the community, according to findings by OSUN DEFENDER, are in dire need of a school for their wards as there is none close by the environment, amid the deplorable state of other amenities.

OSUN DEFENDER gathered that the people of Aralapon community also require the establishment of a primary health centre urgently, as they have to go miles to get adequate medical attention. 

This is just as the community, which hosts one of the reservoirs for the Ilesa Water Project expressed displeasure over the current state of the project. 

Leaders of the community said the present state of the project has subjected them to more problems.

READ: Govt Interventions Without Adequate Data Fruitless – Medical Expert 

These revelations were part of the discoveries made during a visit by the members of the Community of Practice (COP) Project Trust to the community, recently.

Project Trust is a citizen-centered initiative that seeks to bridge the communication gap between the government and the governed for transparency and public accountability.

Some of the other demands of the community leaders include a road network as well as streetlights. 

One of the leaders of Aralopon community, Mr. Ademola Olukitibi explained that having a project of such magnitude in their community ordinarily should have brought succour and relief to them, but the reverse has been the case.

Olukitibi said: “Aside from needing access to pipe-borne water, which the project would have addressed, the major road into the community now gets slippery when it rains due to the unending construction of the dam.”

He also mentioned how the government took over one of the community member’s house and asked him to relocate, because of the project, stressing that the contractors have also ignored them.

Addressing the community leaders after an inspection of Aralopon community, a member of the COP, John Afolarin, explained that it is important for the people, to take an interest in the details of projects executed in their locality so as to enable them to take up the government when its completion is delayed.

Afolarin also educated them on how to nominate the school and other projects needed in the community and how to track their execution.