How community employs, pays teachers in govt school

Consequent upon the challenges faced by pupils and students of public schools, many have become dropouts while others have gained only but a little knowledge.In an ideal situation, government is solely responsible for running public schools. While the federal government is taking care of the tertiary institutions, state and the local governments are accountable for […]

Consequent upon the challenges faced by pupils and students of public schools, many have become dropouts while others have gained only but a little knowledge.
In an ideal situation, government is solely responsible for running public schools. While the federal government is taking care of the tertiary institutions, state and the local governments are accountable for effective running of primary, secondary and state owned institutions in their respective domains.
Governments at the three tiers are expected to provide structures, teachers and other staff as well as maintenance of all facilities in public schools to give the citizens education. They are also to pay salaries and other entitlements of teachers and other staff in such schools. However, these vital functions are gradually been abandoned by government at all levels.
Like many communities across the country, the residents of Idu-Koro community under Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) have decried government refusal to address the problems affecting their only primary school.
The community, Daily Trust observed has a befitting primary school facility of about five blocks of classrooms but it lacks teaching and learning facilities to make it a complete primary school.
The school which was built since 2014 for the community was supposed to relieve the residents of their hardships in educating their wards.
However, it was observed that children of Idu-Koro community are lagging behind educationally. This is because government is not paying the needed attention to the only primary school in the area. The community has to take action to keep the school alive after all attempts to get government intervention have failed.
The school, Daily Trust gathered has a population of about 440 pupils at present. The pupils are being handled by only three teachers, a headmaster and deputy headmaster. Thus, only five teachers are under the employment and pay roll of the government.
However, the community had through the Parents Teachers Association (PTA), employed the services of eight more teachers.
Despite this effort, Daily Trust observed that about nine classrooms are permanently under lock and key courtesy of inadequate teachers, chairs and desks.
A source in the school also told our reporter that inspectors from the federal authorities have been visiting the school and noting all the problems affecting it with promises to address them, yet nothing has been done to that effect.
This is in addition to the monthly reports to the authority, at the top of which is always the problem facing the school, which includes, inadequate teachers, lack of security, desks, water, fence, electricity amongst others.
The source said the pupils could not use the available toilets because of lack of water and that the borehole that should have providing the school with water had been malfunctioning and abandoned years ago.
The Chief Imam of Idu Central Mosque, Abdullahi Ahmed, said that the school is facing serious challenges and that efforts to make government come to their aid have failed.
Ahmed said the school is lacking of security guards, adequate teachers, parameter fencing and other basic infrastructures.
He said: “The teachers are not enough and government has refused to deploy more teachers to the school, so the community has to employ eight additional teachers and has been paying them for over seven years now.”
He noted that due to lack of parameter fencing, some hoodlums in the area are taking that advantage to vandalise offices and classrooms and steal some vital items.
He pointed out that about two years ago, the secretary of the local government summoned leaders of the community for a meeting where they tabled the matter, yet government has not fenced the school and no security guards are provided.
“So the community has to employ a security man to guard the school. The community is paying the local guard from the little contributions being generated from volunteers,” he said.
Another resident, Malam Bello Sule said the eight additional teachers have been on the community’s payroll since their employment.
“We need the incoming government to help us by deploying more teachers to the school; erect parameter fence and also provide a Senior Secondary School in the community,” he said.
Sule said the community leaders will continue to advocate for more teachers from the local authority in order to make academic activities more effective in the school.
Also commenting on the school, the son of the community head, Prince Mohammed Ahmed Nasiru, said they are finding it difficult to cope with the situation and that is why they took a step forward to get their wards educated.
Nasiru said they know the importance of education and have been trying hard to get the community members to enroll their children in school.
He added that in order to keep the school alive, the community decided to contribute little assistance to cover up the lapses of government.
He noted that some of the teachers find it difficult to bear with the situation and some pupils also stayed away from school because they are being tasked some amount of money for projects in the school.
This, he added was in addition to the regular N660 school fees paid by each pupil.
On the government’s free education programme, Nasiru said there is nothing like free education in the community as parents have been paying school fees for their wards.
He however said lack of awareness and sensitisation of the people is a challenge for the UBE and which also resulted to high number of out of school children in the country.
He said they will continue to encourage parents and guardians to enroll their children in school despite the challenges they are facing in the community.
Some of the teachers who are under the community payroll told Daily Trust that their work has been marred by lots of challenges, such as overcrowding of pupils, lack of text books and other facilities to aid them in teaching.
One of them said most times the teachers have to provide the books to use in teaching from their meager salary of N10, 000.
“Because we don’t have enough teachers in the school, a class that is supposed to be handled by three teachers is being handled by one teacher,” she said.
They said that they accepted to do the work because of lack of employment bedeviling the country.
However, they are pleading with the government to confirm their employment through the federal education authority as well as provide the necessary infrastructures that will help them in giving their best to the pupils.