How Bauchi community secured secondary school from miscreants

It was established about two decades ago to provide secondary education to females married off by their parents after completing their primary education.  It also serves as a vocational training centre for married women.

Residents of Wayan Makafi have taken bold steps to secure a secondary school built in the area following the activities of miscreants who turned it into their den.

The school,  Married Women Secondary School Wayan Makafi, is one of the only three of its type in the state.

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It was established about two decades ago to provide secondary education to females married off by their parents after completing their primary education.  It also serves as a vocational training centre for married women.

However, the school is in a sorry state as all the buildings are dilapidated, many without doors or windows. Also, most of the classrooms have no desks or chairs as they have broken or stole by the miscreants.

The hoodlums have turned the school into their hideout where they use to plan their nefarious activities. They engage in rape, armed robbery and stealing especially on Fridays, which  is the market day of the nearby Railway Market.

The ward Head of Unguwar Kur Majidadin Makaman Bauchi Alhaji Shu’aibu Adamu told our correspondent that worried by the situation the community set up a committee charged with the responsibility to rescue the school.

However, when the committee approached the state Ministry of Education for assistance, the community was asked to secure the school before the government would intervene.

He said following this residents have contributed money to build a fence around the school to secure it. He added that a local vigilante has been engaged to provide security in the school.

The Secretary of the Committee, Mallam Yahaya Abubakar said the problem of the school worsened five years ago when fire destroyed  some classes in the school  and a windstorm destroyed its roofs.

He said because of the failure of the administration to repair the damages miscreants took over and turned the school into their den.

Yahaya said the hoodlums removed windows, furniture and doors of the buildings and sold them.

“We have chased all the miscreants out of the school it is no longer their hideout again.”

A community leader in the area, Alhaji Ahmad Abubakar Chindo appealed to the government to restore the glory and dignity of the school to enable it to resume its full activities.

Chindo said it was sad that all the principal officers of the school do not have offices to operate while lessons are being conducted in makeshift structures.

The Commissioner for Education, Dr Aliyu Usman Tilde, while  sympathising with the community over the condition of  the school said the government would rehabilitate the structures after the community’s intervention.

He said the government had wanted to demolish all the structures and turn the area into a dumpsite  or a football field due to the activities of miscreants.

“We wanted to rehabilitate this school and others in similar condition but we can only do it under a peaceful atmosphere,’’ he said.