Inside the unconducive classrooms in Enugu schools | EduCeleb
Abdussalam Amoo
20th December 2019
Facilities in various schools across Enugu State are in deplorable state despite government interventions in basic education. ABDUSSALAM AMOO visited such schools spread across the state in September. Excerpts of his report are presented below.
Whenever rain falls at the Central School, Imezi Owa, learning halts. Pupils are led into the few available classrooms in better shape within the school for shelter.
On a normal day, only three classrooms are in relativelygood shape to cater for the eight classes in the primary school with over 100pupils.
Headmistress of the school in Ezeagu Local GovernmentArea of Enugu, Mrs Roseline Jideofor told this reporter that the school hadmanaged the available facilities like that for a while.
Documents from the Enugu State Universal Basic EducationBoard (ENSUBEB) show that N3.17 million was allocated to the renovation of theschool building under the 2014 UBE intervention projects. This was neverimplemented.
This reporter observed that two to three classes share aclassroom because the roofs of other available rooms had caved in.
The United Nations Educational Scientific and CulturalOrganisation (UNESCO) identified poor schooling conditions as an impediment toaccessing a quality education.
Globally, the UNESCO Institute of Statistics described the disparities in the availability of facilities at the basic education level as a global learning crisis affecting over 617 million adolescents and adults.
Among parameters it used in establishing these are theavailability of electricity, internet, computers, adapted infrastructure andmaterials for students with disabilities, clean drinking water, single-sextoilets, and basic hand washing facilities.
But the situation at the Imezi-Owa school and many othersvisited in Enugu State appear much deplorable in these regards.
The Compulsory, Free Universal Basic Education Act of 2004 mandates government to provide enabling conditions for accessible learning for all.
Enugu is one of such states that did not access its UBE intervention funds for about four years as at October 2018. It only began doing so much later with the implementation of 2014 and 2015 UBE intervention projects late 2018.
Data from the Federal Ministry of Education made available to EduCeleb.com shows that up 30 percent of basic education schools across Enugu State are in bad condition.
That is higher than the national average of 25 percent.
Specifically, 2,056 pre-primary schools in Enugu State are in bad condition just as 4,205 of the primary schools as well as 915 of the Junior Secondary Schools are.
Some 28 kilometres away from Imezi-Owa is the Community SecondarySchool, Umana Ndiagu in Eze Agu Local Government where a not so different taleof neglect lies.
Whereas, the government proposed to renovate three blocksof dilapidated classrooms in the school, it has put only one in good shape.
The remaining classroom blocks in the school remainunconducive as at the time EduCeleb.comvisited there.
With almost open roofing, cracked walls, absent windowsand some collapsed classrooms, students would have to take cover whenever theweather changes.
School Principal, Mrs Cordelia Nwajuani said thecontractors who showed up to continue work on a section of the school a weekendbefore the visit only attempted patching a weak broken wall rather thanreconstructing it with pillars.
In the event of rainfall, the headmaster at Community PrimarySchool, Ekoyi Iheaka, Mr Samuel Ugwuja said “the noise alone will not makeyou hear word. The children would shift to the middle of the class.”
A classroom block in the school, which remainsdilapidated would pass off worse than a poultry farm.
An ongoing classroom block construction in the school is nearing completion but the contractor, according to Mr Ugwuja, had not shown up in over two weeks before the visit.
For teachers at the Community High School, Umumba Ndiaguin Igbo Etiti Local Government Area, they have their staffroom under trees asthey have had to sacrifice the few available spaces in the school for studentsto learn.
The roof of a block of classroom had caved in for morethan three years and calls to government to commission repairs remainedunanswered.
The principal of the school, Mr Reuben Omeh told EduCeleb.com that he shares his officewith students in JSS3.
At the Central School, Ugwoba in Oji River LocalGovernment, a collapsed classroom block lies there for almost four yearsdespite funds allocated for its renovation. Officials of ENSUBEB initiallyclaimed that the project had been executed until when confronted with picturesof the school that showed them otherwise.
With the yet to be renovated classroom block at IvaValley School II in Enugu North Local Government Area, the management made dowith the available better structures within the school.
Classrooms were overcrowded and the primary schoolstudents still have to shift their seats whenever there is a downpour as someroofs were leaking.
A classroom block in the school compound was originallydesignated for renovation works in the 2014 intervention projects at theestimate of N3.17 million. But that never happened as noted.
The school’s headmistress, Fidelia Agu claimed that some persons had come to mark the building with a lot number but later cancelled it saying that the project was meant for another school, Iva Valley School III.
At some of the schools, pupils sit on the bare floor tolearn daily.
Beyond the provision of a new block of classrooms at the Central School, Eha Ndiagu at Nsukka Local Government, over sixty pupils in three classes of the nursery education level still sit on the floor due to the non-provision of classroom furniture.
There were such instances at the Community PrimarySchool, Ekoyi Iheaka and Modern Primary School, Ogba Iheaka both in Igbo EzeSouth Local Government Area; the Community Primary School, Umuagama in IgboEtiti Local Government, and the Community Primary School, Umumba Ndiagu in EzeAgu Local Government.
Originally, the action plan obtained from the UniversalBasic Education Commission (UBEC) indicated that between twenty-five to fiftyplastic chairs were to be provided for pupils in the pre-school classes in eachschool. But school heads told EduCeleb.comthat they got eight each.
Due to the insufficiency of classroom chairs and desks,the responsibility of providing one fell on parents who would at times givetheir children kitchen stool to take to school. That is if they could affordone.
To prevent the occurrence of such in her school, theheadmistress of Iva Valley School II in Enugu North Local Government Area, MrsFidelia Agu said she had to use her money to make additional school furniture availableahead of resumption in September. In that case, nursery school pupils were seenusing chairs meant for older ones as theirs were not provided.
The action plan originally allotted the school 35 plasticchairs and desks but none was delivered there.
Virtually all the schools visited had no buildingdesignated as a toilet.
Students and teachers would have to leave school duringofficial hours in the event that they need to defecate.
The surrounding bushes of the schools would sometimesserve as toilets when they need to urgently answer the call of nature.
The action plan allocated over N892 thousand for theconstruction of four toilets at each school but only Ojinator Primary School inOji River Local Government had a functional one save for the CommunitySecondary School, Umuagama that has one uncompleted structure overtaken byweed.
Across the schools visited, access to water supply isdependent on the host communities as none was readily available in schoolcompounds. This reporter found no specific item in the states action orimplementation plan indication the provision of water in the schools.
While the action plan specified the facilities to be putin place in each school, EduCeleb.comobserved that some of such projects were under-delivered.
Just as toilets were missing in most of the schools, someclassrooms were not done to specification.
At Modern Primary School, Ogba Iheaka, the plan was to renovate three blocks of classrooms but only one was done, leaving the other classrooms unconducive.
But at Community Junior Secondary School, Nkalagu Obukpain Igbo Eze South Local Government, only two of the three blocks wereconstructed. The second was already near completion when this reporter visitedthe school.
The action plan for Central School, Eha Ndiagu proposedtwo blocks of classroom for the school but only one was eventually constructedleaving the other in bad shape as well.
Most of the schools visited had no fence, leaving them vulnerable to external aggression.
While some school in urban centres with fences couldafford having security patrolling the communities ensure the safety of theirschools, those in rural communities reported their property being vandalisedand stolen occasionally by unknown persons.
Our findings showed that some of the contractors thatmanaged the construction works were not registered to do that.
This is in violation of provisions of the PublicProcurement Act.
Checks with the Corporate Affairs Commission revealed that Packs and Services Ltd, which handled the work at Community Junior Secondary School, Nkalagu Obukpa has no business with building construction originally.
This reporter was told by bricklayers on site that the work was subcontracted to them but this could not be verified till the time of filing this report.
Based on a check with the CAC, EduCeleb.com found that the company registered in August 1991 was designated to “engage in the distribution, manufacturing, importing and exporting of all kinds of polypropylene and polythene packaging materials” as well as to “manufacture, produce and distribute all kind of agro-allied materials”.
It also set out to “carry on the business of hotel,restaurant, café tavern, beer-house, keepers” among other things descriptive of aspects of hospitality and hotelmanagement.
In the case of Cleandom Integrated Limited, which managed the construction at Modern Primary School, Ogba Iheaka, it was registered in December 2016 as an enterprise meant to “carry on the business of general contracts, sales and supplies of general goods, manufacturers, representatives, sales agents services and suppliers of office equipment, importation and exportation of general goods, (and) general merchandise”.
Kenjude Enterprises managed the construction work at Community Secondary School, Umuagama. Its focus includes “sales marketing of goods” and “general merchandising and contracting services”. As at the time it was awarded the project, the company was yet to be registered. It only filed its registration in October 2019.
The Enugu State Government has said that it had nointention of abandoning any of its schools.
Commissioner for Education, Uche Eze while responding to enquiries from our correspondent via text messaging said the ENSUBEB was not known for abandoning school projects.
The University of Nigeria Nsukka professor was, however, silent on other findings from our investigation after promising to get back to us.
Further calls to his mobile numbers and text messageswere not answered either.
Meanwhile, the head of Physical Planning unit in ENSUBEB, Ms Sandra Nneji had told EduCeleb.com that cases of projects yet to be done or under-executed was a case of transfer.
The project at Central School, Imezi Owa, for instance, wasone of such cases as this reporter later learnt that a new block of classroomwas being constructed under the 2015 intervention projects.
She assured us that identified findings would be put intoconsideration in subsequent action plans.
“In such cases of project you can’t find, theproject must have been transferred.”
“So, that dilapidated school should be in the nextaction plan. It’s not that we abandon it.”
“At times when officials from a local governmentsubmit a list and they later noticed that another school is worse than thatschool, the project can be transferred to that worse school.”
Nneji added that whatever the SUBEB would do is subjectto the availability of funds.
A promise made by ENSUBEB to respond to our other findings through its  spokesperson had gone unfulfilled with the excuse that the senior officials of the agency had not authorised further responses.
The Programme Coordinator of Youth Child SupportInitiatives (YSCI), Chiamaka Chukwuude said the state of schools in Enugu Statewas unfortunate.
Mrs  Chukwuude, whose organisation is based in Enugu, noted that what the government referred to as transfer of project could also be a “misuse of political power”.
“Some of the projects planned but transferred to otherplaces were changed by people who had others that can speak for them in thegovernment,” Mrs Chukwuude said.
“Those projects were needed where they were planned to beinitially.”
On the insufficient classroom furniture in schools, shewanted the government to address that in its subsequent implementation plans.
The YSCI official believed that a proper sensitisation of the School Based Management Committee (SBMC) across schools would ensure that appropriate monitoring and execution of school projects.
This investigation was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.