Learning threatened at FCT school over deplorable classrooms

A Junior Secondary School (JSS) in Agwai community in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is in ruins, Abuja Metro can report. The school, which is being managed by the FCT Universal Education Board (UBEB), is also facing acute shortage of teachers. Abuja Metro learnt that the school, which was established in […]

A Junior Secondary School (JSS) in Agwai community in Kuje Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is in ruins, Abuja Metro can report.

The school, which is being managed by the FCT Universal Education Board (UBEB), is also facing acute shortage of teachers.

Abuja Metro learnt that the school, which was established in 2014 with standard classrooms, a laboratory and offices, is now in shambles.

It was gathered that the school also faces shortage of teachers on core subjects, while the roofs of its classrooms had been pulled down by windstorm.

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Our reporter, who went round the facility, also observed that the administration block was worst hit as the roofs had been blown off with the ceilings pulled down.

It was further observed that many broken desks and chairs were piled up inside one of the empty classrooms.

A member of the community, Dantani Usman, who spoke with our reporter, said since the reported cases of kidnapping around rural communities in the area, academic activities in the school had not been going on smoothly for over two years, leaving the students redundant at home.

He said the fear of abduction has led to the disappearance of the management staff and teachers from the school.

“It is unfortunate that the UBEB junior secondary school in this community has remained in ruins due to insecurity. But now that security has improved, one expected that teachers who are posted should stay but when some of them come like one or two weeks, you will not see them again, the next thing you will hear is that they had sought for transfer to the city,” he said.

Usman further said that academic activities hardly move on smoothly during the rainy season, saying some of the teachers don’t come to school due to the deplorable state of the road between Gurufufu, Gumanyi down to the community.

“During rainy season, there is no access road to Agwai because there are two big rivers, which you have to cross. And whenever it rains heavily, there is no school that day because the teachers can’t cross those two rivers,” he said.

He also noted that despite the fact that the school has a population of over 130 junior secondary school students, it has only five teachers that teaches 16 subjects.

“Among the five teachers, one of them is an indigene of this community and unfortunately, the four others hardly come to school. So, you can see the kind of challenge the school is facing. Hence, we are appealing to the FCT administration to as a matter of urgency, come to the aid of the parents by addressing the challenge since security has improved a little,” he added.

Also speaking, the chairman of the School Based Management Committee (SBMC), Mr Haruna Ibrahim Agwai, who spoke with our reporter through telephone on Monday, said the school had been facing problem of inadequate teaching staff.

He said it was worrisome that with the population of over 130 students, only five teachers were handling the entire students of the school, even as he said some of the teachers don’t come to the school regularly.

“The only teacher I think that sacrificed his time to teach our children is the indigenous teacher in the community, while other ones who are posted ended up not being punctual. And when you enquired, the next thing you will hear is that such teacher has sought for transfer to the city,” he said.

The SBMC chairman, who decried the state of dilapidated facilities, especially the school laboratory and administrative block, appealed to the UBEB to come to the aid of the parents by addressing the challenges facing smooth academic activities in the school.

The FCT UBEB’s Director, Dr Hasan Suleiman did not respond to calls and text messages sent to him.

However, a senior official at the board, who preferred anonymity, disclosed to our reporter that the they were aware of inadequate teaching staff not only in the school but across public schools in the FCT.

“Actually, the UBEB is aware of the shortages of teaching staff across many rural and urban schools in the FCT but the board is still waiting to get the nod of the FCT minister, Nyesom Wike to recruit more teachers,” he said.

He added, “At least, you know how the minister has been operating since he came on board, so we have been careful with him. And that is why you can see that many schools, especially those in rural areas are facing infrastructural deficit because of the way he has been handling things.”