Schools rot due to poor maintainance in Kano

A number of primary school structures in Kano State are rotting due to poor maintenance, just as the schools lack facilities such as toilets, tables and chairs among others, Daily Trust findings revealed. Further findings also indicated that the sorry state of structures cuts across most primary schools located in rural and urban areas. Authorities […]

A number of primary school structures in Kano State are rotting due to poor maintenance, just as the schools lack facilities such as toilets, tables and chairs among others, Daily Trust findings revealed.
Further findings also indicated that the sorry state of structures cuts across most primary schools located in rural and urban areas.
Authorities and host communities have been blamed for not playing expected roles in maintaining these schools, hence, the decay.
At Hotoro South Primary School, pupils were seen taking lessons on the bare floor due to non-availability of chairs and tables, while some other classes did not have doors and windows, thereby exposing the pupils to excessive cold and rain during the rainy periods.
 Also, some classroom blocks have been abandoned by the schools authorities due to their bad condition and the few that are still serviceable have no ceilings and good chalkboards.
Further observations revealed that flooding was another problem facing some primary schools in the state, as whenever it rains, the affected schools would be submerged in ankle-deep floodwaters.
Daily Trust observed that Giginyu and Hotoro South Primary schools were among the schools being affected by this problem. Findings indicated that whenever it rains teachers at Hotoro South Primary School suspend classes and pupils have to be sent home because they cannot endure staying in the flooded school.
Our reporter also observed that there were no drainage systems for the smooth flow of water in the two schools. A natural build up of silt and debris over many years had caused blockages in the available drainages, leading to restricted water flow.
A female teachers in one of the schools, who craved anonymity, told our reporter that although teachers and students have not resorted to defecation in the open, but whenever the need arises one had to go back home to ease oneself.
She said, “Our toilets are in horrible conditions. In fact, we have abandoned them for many years. Even the pupils are not using the toilets and several efforts have been made by the school authority to fix them but all in vain.”
At Badawa Primary School in Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state, our reporter observed that a large portion of the schools land has been allocated to individuals as plots.
 A headmaster of another dilapidated school, who also spoke to our reporter on condition of anonymity, said government has neglected the primary education, as according to him government was not giving the sub-sector the attention it needed.
 “Most primary school buildings in the state are old and dilapidated. Government is not properly maintaining these schools. For instance, whenever wind destroys buildings in a school, the headmaster of the school will write a report and send to his superiors but in the end government will not fix the affected buildings in time for the pupils to continue using them,” he said.
He said, “The roofs of some of the buildings in my school were blown off by wind years back and government has not fix them even though I reported the case the very day the incidence happened.”
He also blamed government for shortage of working facilities, saying “if a headmaster applies for working facilities, it will take several years before he gets them.
“Apart from the delay, some officers at the local education authority have developed the habit of diverting facilities meant for pupils for their personal use. For instance, if you request for roofing sheets and your school is allocated five bundles, the officers will divert two or three bundles,” he said.
Another teacher Abubakar Ibrahim said unless the welfare of teachers was improved, progress would never be recorded in the primary education sub-sector.
“Teachers are the engine of the primary education sub-sector and if their welfare is not improved then the system will not improve at all.”
He agreed that in the past teachers were well taken care of by the government more than other civil servants, saying “when a member of your family who is a teacher is sick, all you need to do is take him/her to a government-owned hospital and government will bear the bill no matter how much it cost.”
Abubakar also called for prompt payment of primary school teachers’ duty post allowances, which he said has been suspended in the state for years now. He further complained about the dearth of teachers and congestion in classrooms, a problem he said needs urgent attention from the government.
He said Kano State government has enough resources to address the problems bedeviling primary education sub-sector.
Another teacher, Yunus Abdullahi, said government should also do more on the training of primary school teachers, noting that, “most teachers are not qualified. There is a teacher in my primary school who cannot write a good sentence, but he calls himself a teacher; what is such a person going to teach our children?” he asked.
Daily Trust observed that although the immediate past administration has constructed over 3,000 additional classrooms in some schools across the state, yet the structures are inadequate to accommodate the over two million primary school pupils. This has resulted in serious congestions in many classes with a single class containing between 200 and 250 pupils in some schools.
In Giginyu area of Kano metropolis, one primary school is in poor sanitary condition because residents dump garbage indiscriminately in the school premises. The lack of proper refuse management by state authorities and the lack of concern by the school authorities have left the refuse heap growing day in day out.