At Eyele Primary School, pupils learn in huts, thatched classes

 However, 18 years after, the condition of Eyele Primary School has seriously deteriorated. Successive governments in the state have abandoned the school without proper maintenance, Daily Trust observed. A recent visit to the school by our reporter shows that it lacks teaching and learning facilities such as desks and chairs, black board, chalks and other […]

 However, 18 years after, the condition of Eyele Primary School has seriously deteriorated. Successive governments in the state have abandoned the school without proper maintenance, Daily Trust observed.
A recent visit to the school by our reporter shows that it lacks teaching and learning facilities such as desks and chairs, black board, chalks and other related items. It was further observed that the pupils still use the huts and thatched makeshift classrooms erected by the community in 1990.
The pupils still sit on the same planks and wooden benches provided by the community at the time of establishing the school.  Primary 1-4 pupils take lessons in thatched structure without walls. The structure is partitioned to make four classrooms. Primary 5 and 6 pupils use  two classrooms built with mud, with no doors, windows or ceiling. Not a single pupil has a chair or desk in the classes. With a population of over 170 pupils, only three teachers, including the headmistress, run the school.
The school needs at least seven more teachers to be effectively managed, one of the teachers, who preferred anonymity, told Daily Trust.
A resident of the area, who also pleaded anonymity, told Daily Trust that the school was better off under the community.
“Since the school was taken over by the government, no one is paying attention to it; hence its condition keeps deteriorating. Until government comes to our rescue, the mud classrooms that are still serving us would one day collapse and that would be the end of the school,” he lamented.
Master John Adejoh, a primary three pupil of the school, said he is not enjoying the school as the environment is not conducive for learning.
“Pupils are distracted by blaring of horn from passing vehicles and activities of pedestrians who always make the area noisy. The sitting arrangement is also not proper.  
“Our laps are our desks; we put our note books on our laps and write during lessons. We want to have desks and chairs in our school,” he said.
 A source said the pathetic state of the school was due to neglect on the part of government, saying the school was not as it was 18 years back when the community was running it.
“The community was running the school effectively before it was taken over by Kogi State government in 1996. Even the existing dilapidated structures were built by the community. Both the local and state governments have not deemed it fit to erect new structures, thereby subjecting the students to untold hardships.
“As you can see, the school has no building, teaching and learning facilities and offices. Everything was provided by the community.
Sometimes, the authorities send the pupils home and close the school for some days due to incessant flood.
“Both the pupils and their teachers have no place to stay whenever it rains. While the thatched roof classrooms are not safe due to exposure to wind and rain, they are also drenched inside the mud huts due to serious leaks from the roof,” he said.
Chairman of Eyele Community, Alhaji Abdullaihi Ibrahim, said the community has done its best to improve the condition of the school.
He said the needs of the school are enormous to the extent that they cannot be addressed through community effort.
“We have written several times about the school to the government but nothing has been done so far. We are therefore appealing to government to  rehabilitate the school.”
When contacted, the Chairman of Kogi SUBEB, Muhammed Usman, said the school is not owned by government.
“A school taken over by government in 1996 and still has mud structure and no facilities? I don’t believe that the school was owned by government for such a period. I think something was wrong somewhere, may be the people lobby and teachers were posted to the school by government,” he said.
He added that all basic schools in the state are in good shape and none of them has mud structure but if the community wants government to take over the school they should put it in writing.