Teachers are trained here… in spite of the rot

Almost making a vow, Governor Nyako said, “we have to take a drastic measure over the rot at the College of Education, Hong. The institution has degenerated to an abysmal level.’’ A visit to the college indicated that what the chief executive of Adamawa State said was an understatement. From the entrance of the college, […]

Almost making a vow, Governor Nyako said, “we have to take a drastic measure over the rot at the College of Education, Hong. The institution has degenerated to an abysmal level.’’

A visit to the college indicated that what the chief executive of Adamawa State said was an understatement. From the entrance of the college, one would begin to see the rot plaguing the institution despite the management’s attempt to explain away why things were in that shape. The College of Education, Hong, Adamawa State, used to be an institution known to be one of the best, where prospective teachers went to learn the teaching profession. Yet, the only state-owned College of Education in Adamawa was allowed to degenerate to an unimaginable level.

The COE is funded by the state Ministry of Education. It was known as the Advanced Teachers’ College. Its provost is Malam Hamidu Maiha.

A tour of the institution leaves one bewildered. For instance, the hangar built in the early 1980s, has remained the only administrative block, while other sites built with several millions of naira years after to replace the decaying hangar have not been completed. They have become abandoned. The college was neglected so much that there was no expansion and the local community seems to have started encroaching.

The college is also plagued by insufficient infrastructure. Lecture halls, office accommodation for staff and laboratories are grossly inadequate. It is said to have contributed to the lack of accreditation of the college.

The hostels for the students are in a deplorable state. Some students sleep on the bare floor as many beds are broken. Some rooms have been taken over by mosquitoes; hence students have to combine two mattresses to form a bed. Chairs and tables are broken and toilets and bathrooms are no-go areas. Doors to rooms can barely lock. Sunday Trust gathered that most of the students are living in mud–thatched-straw hostels built by villagers.

These ‘hostels’ are decrepit where they still exist at all, while laboratories have become obsolete. The library lacks up-to-date materials and students, sometimes, have to engage in fisticuffs over inadequate lecture venues.

“From there, move on to the students hostels, move near the toilets, proceed to the laboratories, but, please, with your helmet on, because of falling objects from caved-in roofs. Look at the dry rusty water faucets, empty stores, cracked test-tubes, leaking beakers   without experiments,’ complained one of the lecturers who does not want his name mentioned.

The lecturer continues to lament that the situation in the institution could mandate one to make bricks without straw, as cherished academic standards run utterly to seed.

Lecturers’ offices look like a junk yard and nobody can better capture the situation in the college more than a security guard who has been working there since 2002. “Things are going down. Things are really going down,” he said as he was struggling to lock a door that could not close very well.

Electricity is also being rationed at the college like in other parts of the town. In the hostels, for example, students can only expect to have light between 6.30 pm and 11 pm. They must rely either on candles or rechargeable lamps to read after 11 p.m. The problems are countless and the response must be urgent.

Some of the disenchanted students lamented that the government had abandoned the institution by not building multi-million naira ultra-modern classes and equipping them with internets and good learning facilities.

Asked why many of them were living in mud-made -hostels, a student, Musa Kala, told this reporter that “a beggar has no choice as there are no hostels.’’

Government’s response

Disturbed by the rot, Governor Murtala Nyako had, in 2009, set up a visitation panel to look into the problems militating against tertiary institutions in the state. The panel that looked into the problems in COE, Hong had submitted a report that painted a graphic picture of the poor living condition in the college, yet nothing was done to remedy the problems.

The state governor, however, while receiving in audience some traditional rulers who paid him a sallah homage recently, assured that, “something must be done’’ to redeem the lost glory of the institution.

Community out-cry

Some community leaders in the area, during a visit to the governor, urged him to visit the college to enable him comprehend the sub-human conditions in which students live. One of the leaders, Mr Hananiya Tashikahalma, argued that the training of school teachers is so crucial that if not properly handled, it would have grave repercussions. Imagine a situation where a school teacher is not properly trained, many people, mostly the poor, will suffer for it. This is a profession where precision cannot be compromised, since mistakes or errors have grave consequences on the educational sector.

‘’We believe that no efforts should be spared to resuscitate the dying college. It is good that the state government is said to have earmarked millions of naira to upgrade and refurbish the college. The money must be judiciously used to stem the rot in the school,’’ he noted.

Meanwhile, all efforts by this reporter to speak with the college’s provost, Malam Hamidu Muhammad Maiha, proved abortive.

But in a telephone conversation, the Adamawa State Commissioner for Higher Education, Alhaji Abdurrahman Abba Jimeta, told Sunday Trust last Friday that plans were under way by the state government to resuscitate the college.

“You see, the problems facing the college are numerous, because findings of the visitation panel listed 15 points, each of which would have warranted a radical approach. The approaches include the law establishing the school. There is no edict establishing the school. It was also found out that the registrar of the college spent over 19 years, while the provost spent nine years, and contracts were irregularly awarded, some of which were abandoned for over 15 years, among others,’’ the commissioner said.

Alhaji Abba said to salvage the situation, plans were under-way to call back the contractors that abandoned their jobs, as there should be a change in the management of the college.

“This present administration is committed to the task of revamping the ailing educational sector, by resuscitating the nine tertiary institutions in the state. When Governor Nyako came on board, the sector was nearly on the verge of collapse, but things have now changed,’’ he said.