The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Southwest Zone D, has condemned in strong terms the Osun State Government’s decision to deploy 1,750 members of the Imole Youth Corps to public schools as stop-gap teachers.
The student body described the move as reckless, unprofessional, and damaging to the future of education in the state.
The backlash follows Governor Ademola Adeleke’s recent approval of the posting of the youth corps members—who are largely untrained and uncertified—to primary and secondary schools across the 30 local government areas and additional area councils in the state.
According to the government, the deployment was prompted by financial challenges that have stalled the implementation of a broader, long-planned mass recruitment of professional teachers.
In a press statement issued on Sunday, Comrade Oluwole Aboke, Secretary General of NANS Zone D, expressed deep frustration over what he described as a gross abuse of a civic engagement initiative and a calculated evasion of responsibility by the state government.
Aboke noted that the Imole Youth Corps was never designed to serve as a pool of educators, but rather as a temporary program aimed at engaging unemployed youths in basic community services, pending more sustainable employment opportunities.
According to him, the government’s sudden pivot to use the corps as a substitute for trained educators not only disrespects the professionalism required in teaching but also sets a dangerous precedent for other states.
“Teaching is not a role that can be filled in a hurry or by default,” Aboke emphasized. “It requires genuine passion, formal training, national certification, and an ongoing commitment to professional development. None of these are prerequisites for members of the Imole Youth Corps. Therefore, assigning them to classrooms is both irresponsible and unfair—to the corps members, the students, and to the teaching profession itself.”
He lamented that the state government had earlier advertised a teachers’ recruitment process, which saw thousands of qualified graduates from across the state apply, undergo rigorous screening, and wait for deployment—only to be met with silence and eventual betrayal.
Aboke did not mince words in calling out what he described as a politically driven decision. He claimed that the corps deployment was a subtle attempt to patronize political allies and appease loyalists under the guise of educational intervention.
“This scheme is not about education—it’s about politics. If it were about education, the government would have prioritized proper recruitment through transparent, merit-based processes,” he argued.
NANS has therefore called on Governor Adeleke and the Osun State Ministry of Education to immediately suspend the deployment of the Imole Youth Corps into schools and begin the process of hiring trained and certified teachers through a transparent recruitment mechanism.
The students’ body insisted that allowing unqualified individuals to take on teaching responsibilities risks compromising the future of students and diminishing the value of education in Osun.
“We are not opposed to youth engagement,” the statement clarified. “However, education is too critical to be subjected to stopgap measures and political experimentation. Our students should not be guinea pigs in the name of budget management.”
NANS also issued a rallying cry to education stakeholders, including parents, teachers’ unions, professional education bodies, and civil society organisations, to resist what it termed “shortcuts that sabotage educational standards.” The association warned that failure to act could lead to long-term damage in the academic growth and personal development of students across the state.
“If this situation persists, we will not hesitate to mobilize across campuses and communities to demand accountability. Osun students deserve better, and we will not sit back while their future is compromised,” Aboke concluded.