EDITORIAL: 9 Months, No Teachers—Osun's Education Sector Still Starved After Lengthy Recruitment Drama - By Voice Air Media

.....do the teachers still waiting in limbo

"Education is the best legacy," they say. But in Osun State, that legacy is being dangerously neglected, trapped in a bureaucratic limbo that is now stretching into its ninth month.

On September 9 to 13, 2024, the Osun State Government conducted interviews for applicants who had undergone a rigorous selection process to fill the long-standing vacuum in public primary and secondary schools. Today, June 9, 2025, the only thing that has been recruited is silence.

Let us rewind.

On February 16, 2024, the state government under Governor Ademola Adeleke approved the recruitment of 5,000 teachers and 250 education officers. The announcement, widely welcomed by education stakeholders, was seen as a lifeline to the deteriorating human capacity in the public school system.

To participate in the process, each applicant paid ₦2,000 for application forms. With over 32,000 applicants, the state netted ₦64 million from the exercise. About 27,000 eventually sat for the exams conducted online, no small feat, considering the digital divide.

Fast forward to July 31, 2024: Commissioner for Education, Hon. Dipo Eluwole, assured the public that successful applicants would be deployed before the resumption of the new academic session. That was nearly a year ago.

Schools have resumed. Terms have passed. Still, no appointment letters.

This delay is not just bureaucratic; it's educational sabotage. It continues to rob thousands of young minds across Osun classrooms of quality instruction, while unemployed, qualified teachers sit idle, some of whom invested their last kobo in the process, hoping for a breakthrough.

Ironically, this crisis is a continuation of a trend. On November 27, 2022, Governor Adeleke sacked 1,500 teachers employed by his predecessor, citing procedural flaws. He promised to right that wrong with a transparent, robust recruitment. Now, two years later, the same system has fallen silent.

On April 28, 2025, during a monitored program, "Oro Oselu", the Commissioner for Environment, Hon. Adejoorin Mayowa, made a vague promise that appointments would come “very soon.” That statement has aged like spilled milk.

The Questions Begging for Answers:

When will the successful applicants receive their letters?

When will Osun schools stop running on empty, short of teachers, short of resources, short of vision?

When will political promises stop being a season film without an end?

The time for ambiguity is over. If education is truly a priority for this administration, let action, not excuses

be the evidence.

Osun’s children deserve better. So do the teachers still waiting in limbo.