By Thompson ABISOLA
Some critical stakeholders in education in the South-East and South-South zones have decried the dilapidation of school structures and classrooms, calling for Federal Government’s urgent intervention in education sector.
The stakeholders made this known in a national survey on the extent of decay in public schools conducted citing long neglect and poor contract execution.
They further decried the lack of instructional materials, dearth of dedicated and qualified teachers, high increase in student population and poor remuneration, among other challenges faced the public schools.
In Abia, a female teacher at City Primary School 1, Umuahia, complained about the shoddy renovation of the roofs of some buildings in the school.
She said on the condition of anonymity that the renovation, which was done recently at the instance of a prominent politician in the area, “is nothing to write home about”.
She said, “As you can see, the roofs have been blown off and the whole place leaks whenever it rains.
“Of course, you will think you are in an open place anytime it rains, both the teachers and pupils would be running about looking for a safe corner inside the classroom.
“It is the same experience when the sun becomes intense during school hours because everybody will be looking for where there is shade.
“This is what we go through every day,” she said, adding that the development always disrupted smooth teaching and learning.
She also complained about inadequate furniture, saying that the chairs and desks in her class of 20 pupils were not only grossly inadequate but old and rickety.
“The table and chair I am using as a teacher are the ones I provided myself. So they are my property and do not belong to the school.
“The school also lacks teaching aids and other important instructional materials.
Most of the things we use in the class are the things we provide ourselves,” she said.
Also, at Urban III Primary School, Umuahia, another female teacher complained about the poor teacher-pupil ratio, which she put at one teacher to 40 pupils.
“For instance, I have 40 pupils in my class,” she said, adding that the situation was unhealthy for effective teaching and learning.
“It does not make room for closer teacher-pupil relationship and that special attention to pupils is usually lacking,” she said.
She, therefore, stressed the need for government to recruit more teachers into public schools to boost the ratio.
At the Community Primary School, Umuda, also in Umuahia North Local Government Area, a male teacher said that poor infrastructure in the nation’s public schools had negatively affected the quality of education.
He also complained that teachers were not adequately motivated by government to give their best, saying that teachers were not properly remunerated.
In Enugu State, the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uche Eze said that the current administration in the state had lifted public schools from the sorry state they were prior to May 2015.
The commissioner said that the current administration inherited 474 abandoned projects in public schools, adding that such projects had since been completed.
The previous administration engaged volunteer teachers made up of retired teachers and others to boost the number of tutorial staff in public schools.
He said that the current administration had to review the use of volunteer teachers in the school system considering its implications on learning outcome.
Eze said that the state government under the current administration took a bold step to employ more than 2,000 teachers to improve the ratio of students and teachers.
He said that the state government through the relevant authorities in the sector provides adequate instructional materials including computer sets for primary and secondary schools.
The commissioner also said that the learning environment in most schools in the state had improved from what they used tobe, adding that 700 classrooms had been constructed in the last three years across that state.
He , however, admitted that some schools were still not at the level government would want them to be.
“The current administration within the last three years has done well in improving the standard of public schools considering what it met on ground.
“Our aim is to ensure that all public schools are rated highly and the excellent performances of our students and pupils sustained,” Eze said.
Also in Abakaliki, Chief Sabinus Nwankwegu, the Ebonyi Commissioner for Education said that the state government was committed to promoting qualitative and holistic education in the state.
Nwankegu, a former deputy Speaker of the Ebonyi House of Assembly said that Gov. Dave Umahi was committed to promoting, strengthening and enhancing teaching and learning to ensure the total development of the child.
He said the state government accorded greater priority in the development of the education sector hence the regular payment of the state’s Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) counterparts funds.
He said that government embarked on schools renovations, building of classroom blocks, equipping public schools with modern instructional materials, recruitment of teachers and training and retraining of staff to achieve a holistic education.
He noted that in a desperate efforts to tackles poor education standards, and put the sector on the right track that Umahi quickly inaugurated a committee to revamp It shortly on assumption of office in May 29, 2015.
“The Ebonyi government in its avowed commitment to revamping the education sector in the state inaugurated a committee to prepare a working plan for making the learning environment convenient for pupils and students in the state.
“The decision followed the presentation of a preliminary report on the state of public schools in the state by a consultant, hired by the State’s Universal Basic Education Board (UBE) to the state Executive Council.
“The committee, headed by the Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Religious and Welfare Matters, Rev. Father Abraham Nwali, submitted its preliminary report on September 15 and final report on October 15, 2015.
“Among the committee’s terms of reference were: Implementation of teacher –student ratio of 35 to 40 in near compliance with United Nations Children Education Funds (UNICEF) standard, conduct of examinations for all teachers in the state’s public schools.
“Return of some schools to missions, preparation of a practicable three-year rolling plan for the education sector, part of the plan is to ensure that every pupil has a seat in his school.
“Introduction of sports as a core component of school curricula, introduction of school farms and designation of some schools as Science, Arts and Science/Arts schools.
”Develop a model for effective supervision of schools in the state, develop strategies for interventionary measures in the public schools every year.
“Develop a model of schools to be built in each of the 13 local government areas of the state to serve as a benchmark for what all public schools should be in a no distant future,” Nwankwegu said.
He noted that improving the quality of education in the state and providing enabling environment for proper teaching and learning were panacea to tackling the decay in the education sector.
He added that the governor had reiterated that he was concerned more about the state of schools in the state and the number of teachers in public schools than just paying salaries of people working in the schools.
“A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is properly educated.
“Our goal as a government is to ensure that we provide environment conducive enough for a holistic, qualitative, affordable and functional education to our children good enough to make them compete with children from other climes”.
In Edo, Mrs Maryann Agbiwor, a teacher in one of the schools, said hat in her school, although some of the school’s structures were renovated, the classrooms have yet to be fully furnished to improve the teaching and learning environment.
She said the students population in a class was as much as 50 persons but added both teachers had not been supplied with required text books and other instructional materials for their academic activities.
“We the teachers buy our instructional materials ourselves, and some of the students buy themselves too,’’ she said
She also said that the number of students far outweighed the number of teachers in the school.
Similarly Mrs Christiana Izehi, a parent, said that it was a result of decay in public schools that many private schools were established in the state.
She noted that government was concentrating on renovation and rehabilitation of the schools without paying due attention to other issues necessary for creating the environment conducive for teaching and learning.
“Education goes beyond mere buildings. What is a school without tables and chairs, writing, teaching and instructional materials for students and teachers,’’ she said.
Bishop Emmanuel Ohis, an educationist, also said the situation of education is “mixed’’ with the manpower problem being tackled by government through training and re-training.
Ohis noted that adequate investment in education sector would go a long way to arrest the extent of the rot in the public schools.
In Akwa Ibom a teacher at Etinan Institute in Etinan Local Government Area, who did not want her name in print, said the school, an old school with boarding facilities, did not have perimeter fencing at its female hostel.
She stressed that a fence round the female hostel it encroachment by the people through the collapsed back fence will be avoided..
“We, the teachers, are not spared, they also advance to our area and cart away anything they possibly could lay their hands on.
“Some classroom blocks are old, although a little renovation has been done to some classrooms.
“Those buildings which have not been inaugurated are locked up to ensure that students and teachers don’t have access.
“At the staff room, we don’t know when it is going to fall. The roofs have fallen apart and we are just there for only God knows period. Staff quarters are nothing to write home about.
“If you have come during school hours and they open the classrooms to you, you would have seen something for yourself.
“In summary we need perimeter fences; more teachers and enhanced learning environment. It is difficult to learn under this environment,’’ she said.
The situation at the Primary School Osuk Ntan in Ibiono Ibom local government area was not different from that of Etinan Institute, as only one block of classroom was conducive for pupils to stay.
The Secretary to the Village Council, Mr Enefiok Akpan, noted that the only block of classrooms in the school was made possible to the village through Mr Ime Okon, member representing Ibiono Ibom in the State House of Assembly.
“This school was built by the Presbyterian missionary since then no government has ever come to rehabilitate any of this classroom blocks.
“All efforts by the village to draw the attention of governments to assist in rehabilitation of this had proved abortive.
“We remained grateful to our honourable House member, Mr Ime Okon, who constructed this classroom block,’’ Akpan said.
At Methodist Primary School, Ituk Mbang, Uruan Local Government Area, residents of the community said that they wrote to government many times on the state of the school and had not yet gotten a response.
One of the residents, Mr John Essien, said they did not have enough teachers to handle the students in many subjects
In his remarks, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr Charles Udoh, said that the decay in infrastructure dated back to post independence but added the current government had so far renovated 400 out of the 2,000 schools in the state.
According to him, it is impossible for government to rehabilitate all the 2,000 public schools in three years.
The stakeholders, therefore, called for Federal Government’s quick intervention to save the sector from total collapse in the interest of the present and future generations of Nigerians.
