Share ‘classroom’ with welder
You think we’re in the 21st century? Well, for pupils and teachers of a primary school in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, it is back to the Stone Age. Unlike their counterparts housed in serene teaching environments in other parts of the nation’s capital, pupils and teachers of Wuye LA Primary School, Abuja, located just two kilometres from Utako District and six kilometres from the administrative block of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), have been completely abandoned by the authorities.
Since the government demolished the temporary structure put up by the school’s Parents-Teachers Association (PTA), the pupils and their teachers have moved their ‘classroom’ under a dangerous locust beans tree located in the compound of the Federal Government Boys’ College, Wuye.
When the Commissioner of the FCT Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Hon. Obunike Ohaegbu, led a team of journalists and staffers of the commission to the sight, what the team met on ground was horrible. Beyond the pathetic situation of receiving classes under a tree, the ‘school’ also shares the little space with a welder. The artisan’s work tools seemed to pose more danger to the pupils and their teachers than the tree itself. Electrical appliances used by the technician were seen scattered around with the sound of the power generator, located in the same place, disrupting the classes.
Speaking to Daily Sun, the headmaster of the school, Mr. Muhammed Kolo, revealed that education inspectors had visited the school under the tree, lamenting that no one expressed any concern. He added that the teachers had no teaching boards to use. He added that officials of Development Control, who destroyed the building with bulldozers, had since converted them to another use, thereby compounding the woes of the teachers and pupils.
Some teachers, who didn’t want their names mentioned, said no serious academic activity had taken place since they were displaced. They noted that they were initially displaced by the Development Control Department before the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, ordered that they should be thrown out of the uncompleted building they were temporally using. According to Kolo: “We were using the Federal Government Boys’ College’s structure.
Without even informing us, they just dismantled everything. They even damaged some of our furniture. When we resumed and realised that we have been moved out, I immediately reported the case to the PTA chairman, who took it up. I have written to the board to come to our aid. We are yet to hear from them.”
He spoke further: “Whenever it rains, we have to send the pupils home. The same thing happens when the sun becomes unbearable. So, we usually teach the pupils between 8a.m and 12noon. We just arrange them under the tree and teach them.” The chairman of the school’s PTA, Mr. Ibrahim Al-Hassan, who is at the heart of the struggle to ensure that the appropriate authorities respond to their yearnings, recalled that previous efforts to get the attention of the relevant FCTA agencies had not been successful.
His words: “Some years back, the community put up a temporary structure for the school in an open place. When the road contract was awarded to a foreign firm, they came and marked the place for demolition. The Development Control Department of the FCTA came and demolished the structure. “That was how we moved over to the uncompleted structure of the Federal Government Boys’ College, Wuye. The Minister of State for Education came and ordered that we should vacate the premises within one week. We pleaded with him since he was actually the education minister and in a way, this problem falls under him. But he refused to listen, insisting that the responsibility didn’t fall under his jurisdiction.
After the notice, we ran to the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEC) who ordinarily runs the school system. All the letters of appeal we have written to them have been thrown out and they have refused to listen to us. “We have also made efforts to reach out to the chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), but his aides have refused to allow us see him. It was after making all these efforts that we finally ran to the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) to come to our rescue. We are begging PCC to mount pressure on the appropriate authorities to do the right thing.
We need them to relocate the school to its permanent site and save the pupils and teachers of the hazards of staying under the tree.” The FCT Commissioner of PCC, Obunike Ohaegbu who was bewildered at the absurd learning environment, said he planned the on-the-spot visit to the school after receiving a petition from the school’s PTA chairman and reading the report of the commission’s investigator, who had initially visited the place earlier to assess the situation. According to him, the abandoned school happens to be the only public primary school at Wuye District. “I am shocked to see pupils from Primary 1 to 6 staying under the same tree and receiving classes.
They are sharing the same tree with a welder, as this is a welder’s workshop,” he lamented. The angry commissioner said he couldn’t understand how the pupils and teachers cope whenever it rains. He added that he was told that UBEB still supplies them materials under such a condition. While absorbing the Minister of State for Education of any blame, he surprise that the Development Control Department of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council demolished the school’s structures without an alternative arrangement made for the pupils.
The PCC Commissioner, after the inspection of the school, led his team to the office of the FCT Universal Basis Education Board (UBEB) Chairman, Alhaji Umar Barau Ningi. The chairman commended the commissioner for his efforts in following up the case. “If all public officers are as active as you are, Nigeria will change,” he said. He owned up that the board had been informed of the school’s challenges during a briefing but said they had problems of funding, which he said had now been released by the authorities of the FCTA.
He said the FCT minister had released the administration’s 50 per cent requirement to them, noting that officials of the board were presently defending their action plan at the UBEB headquarters. The chairman further added that the FCT minister had given them a place to site a new school for the LEA Primary School, Wuye, adding that a permanent school would be built soon.
“Before the rain starts, the children will surely be sheltered,” he promised. Investigations by Daily Sun revealed, however, that contrary to the promise by the UBEB chairman, there are no signs of any school being erected at the moment, even as the rainy season might commence in less than four months.
Source: Sun News
You think we’re in the 21st century? Well, for pupils and teachers of a primary school in Abuja, Nigeria’s federal capital, it is back to the Stone Age. Unlike their counterparts housed in serene teaching environments in other parts of the nation’s capital, pupils and teachers of Wuye LA Primary School, Abuja, located just two kilometres from Utako District and six kilometres from the administrative block of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), have been completely abandoned by the authorities.
Since the government demolished the temporary structure put up by the school’s Parents-Teachers Association (PTA), the pupils and their teachers have moved their ‘classroom’ under a dangerous locust beans tree located in the compound of the Federal Government Boys’ College, Wuye.
When the Commissioner of the FCT Public Complaints Commission (PCC), Hon. Obunike Ohaegbu, led a team of journalists and staffers of the commission to the sight, what the team met on ground was horrible. Beyond the pathetic situation of receiving classes under a tree, the ‘school’ also shares the little space with a welder. The artisan’s work tools seemed to pose more danger to the pupils and their teachers than the tree itself. Electrical appliances used by the technician were seen scattered around with the sound of the power generator, located in the same place, disrupting the classes.
Speaking to Daily Sun, the headmaster of the school, Mr. Muhammed Kolo, revealed that education inspectors had visited the school under the tree, lamenting that no one expressed any concern. He added that the teachers had no teaching boards to use. He added that officials of Development Control, who destroyed the building with bulldozers, had since converted them to another use, thereby compounding the woes of the teachers and pupils.
Some teachers, who didn’t want their names mentioned, said no serious academic activity had taken place since they were displaced. They noted that they were initially displaced by the Development Control Department before the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Nyesom Wike, ordered that they should be thrown out of the uncompleted building they were temporally using. According to Kolo: “We were using the Federal Government Boys’ College’s structure.
Without even informing us, they just dismantled everything. They even damaged some of our furniture. When we resumed and realised that we have been moved out, I immediately reported the case to the PTA chairman, who took it up. I have written to the board to come to our aid. We are yet to hear from them.”
He spoke further: “Whenever it rains, we have to send the pupils home. The same thing happens when the sun becomes unbearable. So, we usually teach the pupils between 8a.m and 12noon. We just arrange them under the tree and teach them.” The chairman of the school’s PTA, Mr. Ibrahim Al-Hassan, who is at the heart of the struggle to ensure that the appropriate authorities respond to their yearnings, recalled that previous efforts to get the attention of the relevant FCTA agencies had not been successful.
His words: “Some years back, the community put up a temporary structure for the school in an open place. When the road contract was awarded to a foreign firm, they came and marked the place for demolition. The Development Control Department of the FCTA came and demolished the structure. “That was how we moved over to the uncompleted structure of the Federal Government Boys’ College, Wuye. The Minister of State for Education came and ordered that we should vacate the premises within one week. We pleaded with him since he was actually the education minister and in a way, this problem falls under him. But he refused to listen, insisting that the responsibility didn’t fall under his jurisdiction.
After the notice, we ran to the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEC) who ordinarily runs the school system. All the letters of appeal we have written to them have been thrown out and they have refused to listen to us. “We have also made efforts to reach out to the chairman of Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), but his aides have refused to allow us see him. It was after making all these efforts that we finally ran to the Public Complaints Commission (PCC) to come to our rescue. We are begging PCC to mount pressure on the appropriate authorities to do the right thing.
We need them to relocate the school to its permanent site and save the pupils and teachers of the hazards of staying under the tree.” The FCT Commissioner of PCC, Obunike Ohaegbu who was bewildered at the absurd learning environment, said he planned the on-the-spot visit to the school after receiving a petition from the school’s PTA chairman and reading the report of the commission’s investigator, who had initially visited the place earlier to assess the situation. According to him, the abandoned school happens to be the only public primary school at Wuye District. “I am shocked to see pupils from Primary 1 to 6 staying under the same tree and receiving classes.
They are sharing the same tree with a welder, as this is a welder’s workshop,” he lamented. The angry commissioner said he couldn’t understand how the pupils and teachers cope whenever it rains. He added that he was told that UBEB still supplies them materials under such a condition. While absorbing the Minister of State for Education of any blame, he surprise that the Development Control Department of Abuja Metropolitan Management Council demolished the school’s structures without an alternative arrangement made for the pupils.
The PCC Commissioner, after the inspection of the school, led his team to the office of the FCT Universal Basis Education Board (UBEB) Chairman, Alhaji Umar Barau Ningi. The chairman commended the commissioner for his efforts in following up the case. “If all public officers are as active as you are, Nigeria will change,” he said. He owned up that the board had been informed of the school’s challenges during a briefing but said they had problems of funding, which he said had now been released by the authorities of the FCTA.
He said the FCT minister had released the administration’s 50 per cent requirement to them, noting that officials of the board were presently defending their action plan at the UBEB headquarters. The chairman further added that the FCT minister had given them a place to site a new school for the LEA Primary School, Wuye, adding that a permanent school would be built soon.
“Before the rain starts, the children will surely be sheltered,” he promised. Investigations by Daily Sun revealed, however, that contrary to the promise by the UBEB chairman, there are no signs of any school being erected at the moment, even as the rainy season might commence in less than four months.
Source: Sun News
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