A sad incident occurred on Thursday morning at Olokinne High School in Ijebu Igbo, Ogun State, where a teacher collapsed and died shortly after arriving at the school.
The teacher, Mrs Oluwatosin Aina, was a Christian Religious Knowledge teacher and a Grade Level 14 officer.
According to a family friend, Mrs Aina drove herself to school that day but felt sick soon after. She sought permission from the principal to go to the hospital but fell down beside her car before she could leave.
She was quickly taken to the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital in Ijebu Igbo, but the doctors could not save her life.
The school community is mourning the loss of Mrs Aina, who was known for her passion and kindness towards her students and colleagues. She was in her 50s and married to a retired principal in the Ijebu Igbo area.
A source who spoke to Punch said, “Yes, I can confirm that the unfortunate incident happened on Thursday morning. I know her very well.
“I heard that she started feeling uncomfortable after getting to the school and got permission from her Principal to go and treat herself but slumped beside her car.
“She was confirmed dead at the hospital she was rushed to. She was a Christian Religious Knowledge teacher and married to a retired Principal. She should be in her 50s and either on Grade Level 13 or 14”
Another teacher who works in the area and wished to remain anonymous expressed concern over the high rate of deaths among teachers in the state. He blamed the stress of having inadequate numbers of teachers for the poor health of the existing ones.
However, the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools, Ogun State, Felix Agbesanwa, while commiserating with the family of the deceased teacher, said that the union was aware of the challenges of the teacher shortage and commended the government for taking steps to address it.
He said, “We have a teacher shortage challenge. This week, the government commenced the employment of 2000 teachers. This is in addition to the 1000 OgunTeach interns who were given permanent employment recently.
We really appreciate this gesture from the Governor and hope that other outstanding issues that will further aid the teacher’s wellbeing will be addressed just as the Governor has promised.”