At Ija-Koro primary school, lessons stop when it rains

The 38-year-old school has a population of 449 pupils, nine teachers and nine classrooms including the Early Child Centre (ECC) class. The condition of the school is pathetic. Without the help of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), academic activities would not have been possible, one of the teachers said.However, despite the assistance being rendered by […]

The 38-year-old school has a population of 449 pupils, nine teachers and nine classrooms including the Early Child Centre (ECC) class. The condition of the school is pathetic. Without the help of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), academic activities would not have been possible, one of the teachers said.
However, despite the assistance being rendered by the PTA, the pupils in the Early Child Centre are presently learning in an unroofed classroom while lessons could not hold for pupils of classes 1-3 when it is raining. The roofing of the ECC was removed last year when government commenced a rehabilitation work in the school but the project has been abandoned halfway.
Pupils in the ECC are now discharged at 11a.m. daily in order to save them from the scorching sun. Classes do not hold whenever it rains or during the dry season, a teacher told Daily Trust.
About six of the nine classes are serviceable, but four of them have no windows and doors, therefore the pupils are usually released to go home whenever it is raining because they could not be shielded from the rains.
Also, the blackboards and the ceilings in the classes 1-4 are in bad condition. Dearth of teachers is another problem facing the school, another teacher lamented. He said the school had only nine teachers. Teachers that are handling classes 3-6 are sharing 3-4 subjects, while those manning primary 1-2 share all subjects among themselves.
Presently, the school has no teachers for Christian Religious Knowledge, Agriculture and English subjects. Daily Trust further gathered that the only English teacher in the school is a volunteer; hence, his attendance was not consistent. The Parents Teachers Association of the school has brought in two additional teachers to complement the nine sent by the government.
Our reporter also observed that two out of the six toilets  meant for both teachers and students have collapsed.
In terms of teaching and learning materials, however, the school is being supplied with enough text books by the state government, Daily Trust learnt.
The headmistress of the school, Madam Abigail Yakubu, commended the state government for supplying adequate text books to the school. She said: “Even on May 13, 2014 government supplied text books to the school. We have gotten enough books for Health Education, Agric and Computer Science subjects.”
But she said the school needs at least 20 teachers to meet the academic needs of the pupils, adding that “we also want government to erect the school fence. We recently encountered problem with the host community over a land but we were able to resolve the problem. So to avoid future occurrence of land dispute between the school authority and the host community, we are appealing to government to fence the perimeter of the school.”
The headmistress also complained about flood which, she said, remains a threat to academic activities in the school, noting that “flood is disturbing us seriously and we don’t have power to address the problem.”
Chairman of Tafa Local Government, Alhaji Babangida Aminu, while speaking to Daily Trust on phone, said arrangements are underway for the completion of the rehabilitation work in the school.
Aminu said: “We are concerned about the condition of the school and we will do everything within our power to improve its condition. We have so many projects at hand right now but I can assure you as soon as we get funds we will complete the work. The welfare of our people is our priority. I will consult the appropriate department to see how we can assist.”