A plot to undermine the re-organisation in the education sector in Kwara State has been uncovered.

Some teaching staff in public schools both in urban and rural areas opposing re-deployment in the ongoing reform are reportedly courting traditional institutions and powerful forces to intercede for them.

It was however learnt that the state government had taken proactive steps in line with its policy thrust to block any intervention from any quarters. Consequently, affected teaching staff who have been loitering around power brokers may be in for the shocker of their life.

The state commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Alhaji Musa Ayinla Yeketi, also warned yesterday that the era of political interference in the education sector of the state was long gone.

He admitted that the needless intervention of certain forces had negatively impacted the educational standard in the state.

Yeketi, who spoke with newsmen shortly after paying an unscheduled visit to the office of state Universal Basic Education Board in Ilorin, said the government would henceforth employ those employable into the teaching profession in the state while those who could not meet up with the standard regulation would be shown the way out.

He maintained that the present administration was prioritizing education as a catalyst for sustainable development, adding that the governor’s plan was to etch his footprints on the education sector.

However, the commissioner requested the management of SUBEB to furnish it with list of teachers on the field across the 16 Local Government Areas of the state with a view to ascertaining shortfalls and for onward presentation to the state governor.

Yeketi stated that the government would embark on redistribution of teachers across schools in the state to address shortage of personnel in some schools.

He said the government had placed embargo on proliferation of transfer of service in the teaching profession as government was no longer comfortable with influx of supposed teachers into mainstream of service.

"Political interference is one of those things we are going to face squarely in this ministry (of Education and Human Capital Development, because political interference is one of those things that is bringing down the quality of education in this state and we would not tolerate it.

"We want to reduce it to the barest minimum. In fact, any recruitment of teachers that is going to be made in this ministry, it has to be those that are employable. We will be employing those that are employable. So, if any politician is bringing anybody for employment, that person must be employable.

"We are gong to reduce political interference to the barest minimum because the governor has a mission. He wants to make a name in the education fortune of our students in this state, and we are ready to assist him in that cause", Yeketi said.