Parents, teachers lament state of FCT community school

Parents have expressed concern over the deplorable state of the Government Junior Secondary School (GJSS) in Gurfata community in Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT. The parents, who spoke when Abuja Metro visited the community on Tuesday, said the state of the classrooms was a serious threat to both students and teachers. Mr Benjamin Eziekel, […]

Parents have expressed concern over the deplorable state of the Government Junior Secondary School (GJSS) in Gurfata community in Gwagwalada Area Council of the FCT.
The parents, who spoke when Abuja Metro visited the community on Tuesday, said the state of the classrooms was a serious threat to both students and teachers.
Mr Benjamin Eziekel, a parent, said since the roofs of all the classrooms were blown off, students found it difficult to stay inside classrooms to attend lessons because of the sun, and that they were forced to remain at home during the rainy season.
He said, “In fact, any day it rains the whole classrooms become flooded as students, and even teachers, have no place to sit down inside the classrooms. And the roofs have continued to remain like this for over a year now.”
A teacher, Ishaya Barnabas, said the dilapidated state of the classrooms had been affecting the learning of the students, especially during the rainy season.
He said sometimes students were forced to carry chairs and desks to sit under trees to attend lessons because of the scorching sun, adding that the situation had affected the performance of the students.
He further said, “As you can see, if it is during the rainy season, students have to go back home because the whole classrooms become flooded..”
He said the school’s management met with the chairman of the Parent-Teachers Association (PTA) and wrote to the FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) on the need to fix the roofs, but that there had not been any positive response.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the PTA, Markus Samari, said, “Apart from the roofs that were blown off by wind, the entire buildings are in a deplorable state as some of the ceilings have caved in.”
He said the PTA wrote on twice to draw the attention of the FCT UBEB through the area council in order to intervene but that no action had been taken.
He, therefore, appealed to the authorities of the area council under the leadership of Alhaji Abubakar Jibrin Giri to liaise with the FCT UBEB to renovate the classrooms.
The Chairman of Gwagwalada Area Council, Alhaji Abubakar Jibrin Giri, could not be reached for comment as calls and an SMS sent to him over the situation were not responded to.
Meanwhile, a senior official at the FCT UBEB, who preferred anonymity, told our reporter that: “If it is for the Junior Secondary School, Gurfata, the board has captured it in next year’s budget.”