Victor EzejaTeachers in some primary and secondary schools in Ojoto, Idemili South LGA of Anambra State, have lamented about the dilapidated state of buildings in their schools, making learning difficult for pupils.
Since the rainy season set in this year, it has been a nightmare for teachers and pupils at Central School Ojoto Uno, as they grapple with leaky roofs.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelHeadmistress of the school, Mrs Ucheakonume Justina Amaka, who spoke to Prime Business Africa, said she was posted to the school in September last year and the school had been in bad shape even before she came.
“The school has been in bad shape for long. I was transferred to the School last September. Since it started raining this year, we have been suffering it,” Mrs Ucheakonume stated.
She said she has reported to the relevant authorities including the state government but no response yet, forcing her to also approach the Parents Teachers Association to help the school.
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According to her, primary and secondary schools in Anambra State are categorised under what she called ‘public-public’, and public-mission’.
She said the school is public-mission, meaning it is partly controlled by the state government and Christian missions. While the teachers are paid by the state government, Christian missions are to supervise activities in the schools under them.
She said the present administration of Governor Chukwuma Soludo is mainly interested in public-public schools, adding that her school is being ignored because they are under mission.
She said the role of Christian missions is to monitor and supervise teaching and learning to ensure quality delivery which was the main reason former governor Peter Obi returned all schools originally founded by Christian missions to them.
However, the headmistress said the Catholic church in the area which the school is under has not responded in terms of monitoring and supervising since she was transferred to the school.
“Before now, they have been coming to schools and monitoring to know what is happening, but now it is not like that again. In fact, we are suffering because we are being married by two men,” the headmistress added.
In a video of the primary school, a teacher was lamenting that every day, they have to drain water from classrooms before the pupils are able to sit and take lessons. The video showed classrooms flooded as some teachers struggled to scoop the water and drain the floor for pupils to settle down for the day’s activities.
“This is our pre-nursery and nursery classes full of water after the day’s rain, see how everywhere is, we have to drain out the water before we start our daily activities,” a teacher was heard saying in one of the videos received by Prime Business Africa.
Another video showed back of one of the school buildings badly damaged from the roof to the ground with the walls growing algae as a result of rain.
The headmistress stressed that the school’s damaged buildings need urgent repairs as rain water has damaged cement floors and the ceilings of affected classrooms are about to fall off.
Also, toilet facilities in the Ojoto Central School Uno are in bad shape, making the teachers and pupils unable to use them.
She called on all concerned including private individuals to come to their aid for the sake of children who are schooling there.
We’ve No Principal’s office, Staff Room – Ojoto Boys Secondary School Principal Laments
At the Boys Secondary School Ojoto, the story of decayed structure is the same.
The school Principal, Mrs Nkiru Okoye, said the state of the school is very bad now.
According to her, there is currently no principal’s office, staff room, chairs and tables in the school.
Mrs Okoye said that after the recent recruitment exercise done by the state government, new teachers were posted to the school with no facilities to enhance teaching and learning.
“The state of the school is very poor now. No staff room, no principal’s office, no chairs and tables. After the new recruitment, they gave more teachers but no facilities for them to work with,” the school principal said.
Okoye, who has just spent 13 months in the school said she has reached out to the state government and others concerned about poor state of the school but no response yet.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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