Pupils sent to farm as FCT school lacks teachers

The village chief of Riwaza community in Kwali Area Council of the FCT, HRH Mohammed Bature, has said absence of teachers at the community’s Local Education Authority (LEA) Primary School has forced children in the village to stop going to school for about two years now. Bature, who spoke with Abuja Metro at the community […]

The village chief of Riwaza community in Kwali Area Council of the FCT, HRH Mohammed Bature, has said absence of teachers at the community’s Local Education Authority (LEA) Primary School has forced children in the village to stop going to school for about two years now.

Bature, who spoke with Abuja Metro at the community on Saturday, said parents had since sent their children back to farm.

He said all the efforts he made to ensure children in his village acquire Western education hit the wall due to lack of teachers to teach them, saying the situation has become so worrisome.

He said the last time the head of the primary school came to the school was about two years ago, adding that the headmaster and one other teacher posted to the school attributed their decision to kidnapping and banditry in the area.

He said, “When there were kidnapping incidents in many rural communities, both the headmaster and one other teacher stopped coming to the school, which was about two years ago.”

He said several efforts made in conjunction with the parents to find a solution had yielded no result.

According to him, the absence of teachers has led to the complete closure of the school, which has been taken over by weeds, with the classrooms dilapidated.

He said, “Today, the LEA primary school’s block is in a dilapidated stage as the weeds have completely taken over the structure. I want you to go there and see things for yourself.”

The village chief added that the last time the head teacher visited the community was when he asked him to compile the list of all the pupils in the school, which he did and handed over to him in March, 2024, saying since then, he has not set his eyes on him again.

Bature said the first day the head teacher was posted to the school, he told him that he liked farming and that he provided him with land, all in an attempt to make him stay.

“I gave him land to farm when he told me that he’s a farmer and he likes farming. But since the issue of those kidnappings, he left and didn’t return, including the teacher. And this is over two years now,” he said.

According to him, the only teacher working with the headmaster, who stayed in the neighbouring Fogbe village, is also nowhere to be found.

He said, ‘’In fact, the last time I saw him at Fogbe village, he was trying to hide from me. So, that is the dilemma parents are facing in this village.”

The village chief said the parents had written severally to the management of the Local Education Authority (LEA) of the council, without positive response.

“The parents wrote through the councilor representing Ashara ward and also the supervisory councilor for education, that since security had improved, they should post teachers to the school but nothing was done about it,” he said.

Our reporter, who went round the school, observed that the one block of three classrooms has dilapidated while grasses have completely taken over the building with its roofing blown off.

The secretary of the Local Education Authority (LEA) of Kwali Area Council, Danlami Leda, could not be reached for comment as calls put across to him were not answered.