By Kolawole Omoniyi
The situation of primary school pupils sitting on the bare floor inside their classrooms is no longer news in northern Nigeria.
The shocking news at the moment is the fact that the pupils’ headmasters and teachers have started joining the ugly trend.
The current experience at Kwarin-Kudi Primary School in the Gezawa Local Government Area of Kano, northern Nigeria, proved the new development.
The school, built in 1995 with just a single building of two jointed classrooms, has been commissioned without furniture since its inception to date.
It also lacks toilets and a staff office, among other stationery for smooth learning.
Pupils at the school are haphazardly taking excuses to answer nature calls by going back home or to the nearest bush. Some of them hardly return to the class until the following day.
Their teachers also follow suit by defecating in the nearest bush due to the lack of toilets at the school, which is about to mark the silver jubilee.
Some teachers at the school told our correspondent that, though they were deployed to the school a few years ago, they were told that there had never been a provision for furniture since the school was commissioned in 2005.
“We always sit here (at the entrance of the classroom) on the bare floor. As you can see, we usually spread mats on the floor and sit on them with our notebooks and textbooks to wait for the next class,” they claimed.
They explained further, “When the sun rose and it was biting hash, we used to join our pupils inside the classrooms and sit on the same bare floor together with them.
We have no table to keep our belongings, including chalk and textbooks; we always pack them inside this sack bag, go home with the bag, and come back with it the following day.”
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The Headmaster of the School, who preferred anonymity, claimed that since his assumption about four years ago, he had not received any monthly subvention or teaching materials from the government; rather, he always used his money to buy chalk and other materials.
He also hinted that in their primary classes of one to six, pupils are being divided into two jointed classroom buildings: class 1-3 in the first classroom and class 4-6 in the second classroom.
“We always wait for each other to teach; we used to skip many of our scheduled periods because two teachers cannot be teaching inside a classroom at the same time. “The situation has been like this here for 23 years, and no one is interested in our case.” He lamented.
The ugly situation at the dilapidated school got complicated in 2011 when a windstorm blew off the roof of the structure. Years after the incident, there was no intervention from the state government to remedy the situation.
Chairman of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) at the Village, Aliyu Muhammed, said, “Things became worse for us when the windstorm struck and blew off our rooftop.
“Unlike before, our pupils used to stay in their classrooms till the closing hour; now, once the scorching sun arises, they will carry their bags and go back home. If it is also during the rainy season, they leave as soon as the weather is cloudy, signaling the possibility of rainfall.” He said.
Aliyu Muhammed said the situation lingers despite several letters written to the Local Education Authority (LEA).
“The LEA has always been promising to repair the roof; they even sent representatives to take pictures of the building last year, but that was the end of the story.”
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He said that apart from the outlined challenges, the school is already overcrowded and could no longer accommodate the population of children in the village.
This, according to him, discourages some parents from enrolling their wards, hence contributing to the problem of out-of-school children in the state. The situation at Kwarin-Kudi Primary School is peculiar in rural parts of Kano State.
Several efforts to meet the LEA officials at the village were unsuccessful, but when contacted, the Governor’s Commissioner at the State Primary Education Board, SUPEB, said the situation at Kwarin-Kudi Primary School was a rear occurrence while enumerating the commitment of the state government in the education sector.
“That of Kwarin-Kudi Primary School is an isolated case; you should have gone round and seen other places where pupils have access to good toilets; see pupils who are comfortably sitting in classrooms.”
“The government is really trying; recently, we purchased some furniture, and some selected schools are enjoying it to meet the legitimate expectations of students in public schools,” he responded. ”He said.
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When contacted, the State Supervising Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation, Engr. Aminu Aliyu, promised to look into the situation at the Kwarin-Kudi Primary School.
Though he said that the state cannot only shoulder the huge financial burden of education, he is therefore urging parents and guardians, as well as other well-to-do individuals, to key into the sector.
“Kano has over 7, 000 public schools and over four million pupils and students. The government is doing everything within its power to take education to the next level.”
“Don’t forget we have two universities and other tertiary institutions: the College of Education and Polytechnic. We still have students on scholarships at Nigerian private universities and abroad.
“So I want to use this medium to call on parents and other stakeholders to key in to move Kano education to the next level.” He said.