It’s death of a tall dream for Yobe’s boarding schools project

In the original master plan outlined by the late governor, each of the boarding schools was to have pupils’ hostels, dining hall, assembly hall, science and art laboratories, library, sports complex, pupils’ clinic, staff room, staff quarters, administrative block, academic blocks, borehole, stand by generator and school bus among other facilities. The pupils would also […]

In the original master plan outlined by the late governor, each of the boarding schools was to have pupils’ hostels, dining hall, assembly hall, science and art laboratories, library, sports complex, pupils’ clinic, staff room, staff quarters, administrative block, academic blocks, borehole, stand by generator and school bus among other facilities.

The pupils would also be given free books and uniforms in addition to other incentives so that they would concentrate on their studies without unnecessary distractions.

Unfortunately however, more than two years after the contract of over N2.7 billion was awarded for the construction of one boarding school in each of the 17 local government areas of the state, the project is yet to see the light of day.

In 2008, when the plan for the schools was unveiled by the then governor, it was received with enthusiasm that at last, parents who were reluctant to send their children and wards to schools because of poverty would now take advantage of the mouth-watering offer  to release their kids to acquire formal education.

Late Ali had promised that on completion, the schools were to be the first of their kind in the country; would integrate Tsangaya school system which is the dominant system of education in the state and would also serve as a stimulus that would encourage parents/guardians and therefore reduce the level of illiteracy among the people.

It was indeed a seamless plan whereby the pupils who would be selected based on merit would be sponsored by the government to learn under the tutelage of qualified teachers

After completing their primary six, the pupils would be absorbed by the Yobe College in Mamudo.

The school which was built at the cost of over N1.5 billion by the late governor was fashioned along the Turkish College style. It was expected to train its students to have the minimum qualification of gaining admission into any university around the world without stress.

Though the Yobe Turkish College had commenced academic activities even before the death of the former governor, there is much to be desired in the boarding primary schools.

Investigations have shown that buildings and other structures had been completed in some of the boarding schools, perhaps while the late governor was alive but the story in other places is pathetic because work had stopped half way.

Grasses have taken over some of the schools while reptiles have found comfortable accommodation in place of pupils.

Again, the roofs of some of the buildings in the boarding school in Geidam have been blown off by wind while the one in Gashua, headquarters of Bade Local Government Area was deserted.

The uncompleted boarding school in Babban Gida, headquarters of Tarmuwa Local Government Area was also deserted. When our correspondent visited the site, there was no guardsman.  The gate was under lock and key even as shrubs have grown all over the surroundings.

In Bayamari where the boarding school for Bursari Local Government Area is built, the compound of the school was clean and most structures are on ground.

Mallam Idi, who was the guardsman in the place said the contractor who built the school visitsthe place from time to time because he did not hand over the school to the government.

The headmaster’s office, classrooms, pupils’ hostel, dining hall, staff room, borehole and stand by generator were all in good shape unlike the ones in other places.

That notwithstanding, our correspondent saw one Hassan Saleh at the gate of the school. He was looking distraught and when asked what he was doing there, he said he was waiting to collect his compensation.

Hassan claimed that he was the rightful owner of the land where the boarding school is built but lamented that he did not receive any monetary compensation.

“I swear to Almighty Allah, this is my farm (the school). When they wanted to build the school, they said they would pay me but up till now, I didn’t hear anything from them.”

Hassan said he relied on the farm to feed his three wives and twelve children but was quick to add that in the last three years, he could not farm there because the land had been taken away.

“I gladly surrendered the land on the condition that I would be paid. More importantly, all of us around here were anxiously waiting for the school to commence academic activities but it seems its initiator had died with his dream,” Hassan observed.

Our correspondent recalled that Governor Ibrahim Gaidam had during a visit to one of the boarding schools in Kukareta in Damaturu Local Government in May, 2009, observed that there was need to upgrade the status of the schools, stressing that the structures and facilities envisaged for them were too good for primary schools.

During the visit which was part of the activities of Democracy Day for that year, the governor said the state government will engage the services of professional educationists to advice on the way forward for the schools.

Few months after, the Commissioner for Education, Barrister Bala Haladu, told journalists that the state executive council had approved the status of the 17 schools to senior primary school and junior secondary schools.

It is now more than seven months after the resolution was taken but there is no improvement on the status quo of the schools as those that are yet to be completed are still the way they were.

When our correspondent visited the office of the state’s commissioner of education to enquire when the schools would be completed, it was learnt that he was out of town. He did not pick several phone calls and did not respond to text messages sent to him on the issue.

The chairman of the Yobe State Universal Education Board Alhaji Abba Disa Gadaka, however maintained that the idea of the boarding primary school system had not been abandoned by Gaidam.

He said modalities were being put in place for eventual take off of the schools. “In fact, we have gone round and discussed with teachers and parents.  Again, at the palace of the Emir of Gujba who is a first class emir in the state, we discussed how to improve pupils enrolment in schools,” the chairman said.

Some parents who spoke to our reporter called on the state government to justify the heavy investment made in the construction of the schools by putting them to use. “I wonder why the schools would be allowed to rot, termites are already wreaking havoc on some of the structures there,” Malam Isma’ila, a resident of Bayamari observed.