• Acute shortage of teachers hits state even as children learn under mango trees, contribute money for chalk, others
From Magnus Eze, Enugu
Statistics in the area of education in Nigeria do not favour Ebonyi State. The state is ranked as educationally backward with the unenviable badge of highest number of out-of-school children in southern Nigeria.
Recently, a study showed that there is acute shortage of teachers in Ebonyi with a gap of about 3,000 teachers identified. The situation has prompted poor parents and members of several communities in the state to intervene in various ways to ensure that their children and wards get basic education.
For instance, in Mgbalukwu Isu, in Onicha Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, which is a few kilometres away from the boundary with Enugu State, many parents there prefer to register their children and wards in primary schools in Nara, Nkanu East Local Government Area of Enugu State.
So, these children wake up every morning and journey to Nara through various transport arrangements including okada (motorcycle), keke (tricycle) or vehicle.
A prominent indigene of the area, Chief Sunny-Bright Chukwu, told Daily Sun that parents favour the Nara option because of the pitiable state of the community primary school, occasioned by lack of teachers.
He said that most primary schools there were not functioning. According to him, “since there are no teachers in the place, everyone would want to take their children to other places with quality education. No parent would allow his child in a place where the person would not be taught adequately. And pupils are integral part of schools. So, our school became desolate.”
Disturbed by the ugly trend, Sunny-Bright decided to give a helping hand around 2017. He engaged four auxiliary teachers for the community primary school and after a while, some other indigenes of the area joined forces with him and they helped in providing infrastructure for the Mgbalaukwu Community Primary School, Isu.
“We noticed exodus of pupils in our schools. In fact, some of our people were taking their children to schools in far away Nara in Enugu State to register without minding the cost implication instead of having them in schools within our vicinity that can be trekked from homes.
“The key factor behind this ugly development is lack of the teachers and invariably the schools are folding up because when there are no pupils, there won’t be school too. The community is lamenting, the people appealed that auxiliary teachers could be engaged.
“And after the arrangement was implemented, things began to normalize at Mgbalaukwu Isu Primary School to be precise. Formerly, the school had about 400 pupils but the number began to decline until about 60 and as at the time that I intervened, there were only three teachers and one headmaster in the school between 2017 and 2018.
“I engaged four teachers on a monthly salary of N25,000 each but till now, there is no intervention from the government. Notwithstanding, it is better than before though the school was affected by the communal crisis between our community and Ezza people from Ishielu LGA. The structures were burnt down then.
“After the incident, I mobilized some persons towards its renovation and UBEB also built some structures. The school has three buildings of 4, 5 and 6 classrooms respectively,” Sunny Bright explained.
The Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of Ugwu Odida Ukwu Community Primary School also in Onicha LGA said the school was about closing down due to lack of teachers.
Its chairman, Christopher Odabe, said that the number of pupils has declined from 70 per class in 1999 when the school was established to just 73 in the whole school presently.
“Out of the three teachers in the school, one is a completely visually impaired person while the second person’s case is partial vision impairment, one can imagine the fate of the pupils under such environment.
“Though, we have four teachers altogether but since the headmistress is not handling any class, it means that the school has only three teachers,” he lamented.
Odabe also said that in the effort of the three active staff to sustain the school, they devised the strategy of combining nursery, primary 1 and 2 pupils in one classroom, primary 3 and 4 in one classroom and primary 5 and 6 in one classroom.
A visit to Odeligbo Primary School, Ndiagodoshi Echara, Ikwo in Ikwo LGA of the Ebonyi Central Senatorial District showed that the school has four teachers, inclusive of the headmaster.
Our findings disclosed that the situation is the same in several schools across the state. In fact, it was gathered that teachers had not been recruited into the state’s basic education system in over 10 years.
Ebonyi has 1,010 public primary schools with 231,012 pupils and 7,988 teachers. In the junior secondary category, there are 34,418 students with 2,761 teachers. The teacher/pupil ratio is about 1:35, but the teaching human resource deficiency is 2,500 to reach 1:25 teacher/pupil ratio. This figure is increasing daily as teachers retire, resign, are incapacitated by illness or death.
But, beyond an increasing ratio, the acute shortage of teachers is prevalent in the rural schools. A baseline report from seven of the 13 LGAs of the state, including Abakaliki, Afikpo South, Ebonyi, Ezza South, Ikwo, Ohaozara and Ohaukwu, indicated that some primary schools in the rural communities have less than four teachers.
Provoked by the precarious situation, stakeholders from the executive, the state legislature, traditional institution, faith-based organisations and civil society groups, at policy dialogue on June 15, 2022, brainstormed on the issue.
Convened by the USAID State Accountability, Effectiveness and Transparency in Ebonyi in collaboration with the State Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) and a Non-Governmental Organisation, Technology for Transformative Development Foundation (TTD), the meeting discussed issues arising from the baseline assessment of primary schools in the state.
Chairman of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) in Ebonyi State, Comrade Francis Egwu, blamed the severe shortage of teachers in basic education in the state on the failure of government to replace those who were no more in service.
“Over several years, teachers that left the service, retired or died have not been replaced. The result is overcrowded classrooms and poor learning outcomes by pupils,” Egwu lamented.
However, the then Principal Secretary to the Ebonyi State Governor, Chief Emmanuel Obasi, stated that the issue was not really the number of teachers, but the allocation of the teachers between urban and rural schools.
He explained that Ebonyi has an acceptable pupil to teacher ratio, “the challenge is the allocation of these teachers to urban and rural schools. While some schools have more than enough teachers, others are grossly understaffed.”
The State Head of Service, Dr Ritamary Okoro, agreed with the key issues identified in the baseline assessment. These issues include a recommendation to prioritize the recruitment of teachers on a continuous basis, the need to provide learning materials, and the importance of having a state basic education strategy.
Nevertheless, Okoro emphasised the importance of teacher supervision, pointing out that there was corruption in the supervisory system.
She said: “We must be courageous enough to address the challenges of corruption in teacher supervision. When the integrity of school supervisors is compromised, no credible monitoring of schools can take place.”
The USAID project had on January 27, 2022, launched a baseline assessment of 327 primary schools in the state and identified key issues that must be urgently addressed.
Presenting a summary of the baseline assessment, Executive Director of TTD, Ewah Otu Eleri, listed such issues to include teacher recruitment, school supervision, the provision of learning materials and the need for a basic education strategy in Ebonyi State.
The project was implemented in collaboration with the Ebonyi State Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB).
At every point, the deplorable and debilitating state of basic education in the state has continued to trouble stakeholders. They warn that if urgent steps are not taken to address the situation, the future of Ebonyi pupils sits on a ticking bomb.
Our investigation revealed that there is also a scenario where pupils sit either on bare floors in the classroom or under mango trees found within their school premises, for their lessons.
In an exclusive interview with Daily Sun, Eleri explained the actual state of things, disclosing that resource persons from the Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria Nsukka, used the best up-to-date scientific methods in conducting the research.
“Our children were not doing well, and that is number one. Number two is that we found out that one of the reasons Ebonyi pupils are not doing well is the inadequacy of teachers. Over the past 10 years, teachers who retired, who left service or who even died have not been replaced. No one teacher has been recruited for over 10 years. So, we have a major gap in the staffing of our schools. Further, with the available teachers, urban areas like Abakaliki, Afikpo and some urban places, sometimes their schools have more teachers than they need. While in rural areas there are hardly any teachers. We have situations where a school that has Primary one to six has less than six teachers and they pull children together to teach them.
“Further, not only is the allocation of teachers very poor, it is also because the existing teachers, very few of them, have had any retraining after they left school. So, knowing modern communication and teaching methods is completely absent from Ebonyi schools,” he stated.
In Abakaliki, Ogodo Jacob described the condition of basic education in Ebonyi State as frustrating and discouraging for both the parents and their children.
According to him, the immediate past administration of Engr. Dave Umahi did not take conscious and concrete measures to invest in the sector and revamp it. He noted that the pupils were learning under harsh and unconducive environment.
The Assistant Director in the State Ministry of Education lamented that little or nothing was done previously to give basic education a facelift in the state.
Another government official also heaped the blame on the past administration, stressing that it spent heavily building concrete roads and bridges but forgot Ebonyi children and their future, which according to him were the most important.
The Local Education Authority official in Ebonyi Central, who pleaded not to be named, said: “The state of basic education in Ebonyi State is in comatose. It is in a terrible state. The last government was more interested in its infrastructure, than education.
“When you go to our schools, you will find that the conducive environment needed for effective teaching and learning is not there. Teachers are not happy. They are not promoted, and because they are not happy. So, the enthusiasm on the part of pupils to learn is not there.
“The learning facilities are not there – no tables, no desks, no chairs even in the classrooms and staff office. The worst is that some of the classroom blocks have been blown off by the winds, and they have just been like that.
“There are potholes on the floors of the classrooms and children sit on bare floors to learn, read and write. Some sit on their bags. It’s as bad as this. This is not encouraging. It’s not befitting and it’s this terrible. Basic education in Ebonyi State has been relegated to the background.
“In the schools, teacher-pupil ratio is very worrisome. When you check that out, you wonder whether it’s political rally where pupils roam inside the classroom and one teacher standing in front to ‘address’ them while those at the back won’t hear him. The situation is very bad, for a teacher to be handling Primary 1 to Primary 5 or 6 alone. There’s a drastic shortage of manpower in this very sector.”
He harped on shortage of manpower in the sector, saying that many teachers have died owing to frustration arising from poor salary (which is currently not paid as at when due), among others.
“We don’t have teachers. Many of the teachers have died out of frustration, hunger and other factors. And when they die, there’s no replacement, no recruitment thus, an increasing shortage of hands in the sector. Some resigned on their own to take up farming, some got other jobs because they can’t cope with the challenges. This is a very discouraging situation. In most of our schools, you have two or three teachers.
“There’s a level a teacher will get to, he or she may be playing supervisory role because if you ask him to go to the classroom, he won’t perform effectively. But here, the reverse is the case.
“In many of our schools, you discover that natural disasters such as winds and floods have affected the classroom blocks and blown off their roofs. And if the communities and PTA, which have been the vehicle sustaining basic education in the state, are not financially viable, the situation remains like that and pupils are then forced to study under the mango trees in the schools.
“In the state, teachers are not well-paid. In fact, there is nothing like salary, because the poor salary that was paid them, in the last 10 years, is what they still receive till today. This is why many teachers have died out of frustration. And many, when they become sick, just die because there’s no money to buy good drugs or go to the hospital.
“Here also, pupils contribute money to buy chalks to receive lessons in the classroom. Pupils also contribute money to write exams, even when the state government said they have given free basic education in the state. But you see pupils paying money to write exams and they call it exam fees. The PTAs are the ones running our schools with the money contributed by parents. In summary, all these factors are affecting basic education in the state.
“Government should come in and intervene squarely. I suggest that some schools should be merged. This is because I’m of the opinion that there are many schools here. In teaching, there’s what we call conducive environment. The government should make our schools very conducive for effective teaching and learning.
“Every child should have a seat attached to him or her and then we should have a sizable number of pupils in each class, so that they will hear and understand their teachers during lessons. There should be a roof over their heads.
“And the teachers should be taken good care of. The teachers should be paid good salary as at when due and be allowed to go for promotion exercise. There is also need to revitalise teaching facilities in our schools. I believe basic education will boom again in the state, should the government take heed to the suggestions above,” he said:
Also, another teacher, Agha Nicholas, noted that aside the improvements recoded during the regime of former Governor Martin Elechi, no significant measure was taken by his successor to mitigate the situation.
Nicholas like other respondents, called on Governor Francis Nwifuru to show compassion and deploy strategic policies and measures to fast track the system. In addition, the teacher, who is also a farmer, urged that books should be restocked in libraries of schools in the state.
He said: “The situation is very bad and it doesn’t give hope to any serious-minded person. Government does not make provision for how to provide chalks for schools, and so when pupils are admitted newly into the schools, they are asked to buy chalks. It’s a worrisome situation.”
For an author, Ndubuisi Nwogha, basic education in the state is in a pitiable situation, stressing that in the course of distributing his books, he had discovered that the condition of most of the schools was better told than experienced.
According to a former Commissioner for Information and State Orientation in the state, basic education in Ebonyi is in comatose because ex-Governor David Umahi’s government was more into “their so-called infrastructure,” than proper funding of education.
He said: “Under the last administration led by David Umahi between 2015 and May, 2023, the primary and secondary educational system in the state was comatose. Nothing meaningful and worthwhile happened at that time, because Ebonyi children were studying under the trees.
“Umahi was not interested in the proper funding of education at the primary and secondary school levels, and all the incentives introduced by previous administrations were withdrawn by him (Umahi), when he became governor.
“Under Umahi, the government started charging levies even when it came to the issue of WASSCE. Previous administrations before Umahi’s used to subvent external examinations. But all those were abolished when Umahi came in because he was so interested in spending in areas or sectors where he himself had interest, especially in his so-called infrastructural development.
“Umahi didn’t believe in manpower development. So, primary and secondary education suffered greatly during his time.
“The new government ought to return to the old method of funding education in the state, which was started by former Governor Sam Egwu. Yes, they have to go back to that old order and ensure that primary and secondary education which is the main foundation is properly funded and given the attention it deserves in the developmental parameters of Ebonyi State.”
Multi-pronged interventions
A lot of public-spirited individuals, groups and communities has continued to contribute to education development in the state, particularly at the basic level.
In Mgbom N’Achara Autonomous Community of Ohaozara LGA, where Mgbom Central School is on the verge of extinction due to lack of teachers, declining pupil population and decaying infrastructure, an education committee was set up to address the issues.
Through the committee headed by an experienced educationalist, Comrade Chukuka Okorie, the community also provides for the Mgbom N’Achara Comprehensive Secondary School where it engaged and has been paying about seven teachers for over two years running.
In the neighbouring Umuka Okposi, also in Ohaozara, the Umuka Progressive Union (UPU) recently organised an education summit to fashion out ways of making primary and secondary schools in the community more functional.
Eminent scholars from the place, including Peter-Jazzy Ezeh, a Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN); Dr. Okereke John Ugwu, Department of Banking and Finance, Ebonyi State University (EBSU) and Dr. Uche Iburu, Department of Industrial Physics, also of EBSU, all agreed on the urgent need for increased government funding, community involvement among others as part of steps to get the schools to function better.
President General of UPU, Emenike Okorie, said: “Quality education at our grassroots is destroyed. Our brothers and sisters no longer have the privilege that many of us had while attending our community schools. Children now leave school as misfits and illiterates. Some purchase certificates, which they cannot defend at JAMB exams or competitive recruitment testing opportunities.
“We are here to generate solutions on how to rescue and reposition Umuka children, and stop them from ending up in the streets of Onitsha, Lagos, Port Harcourt and elsewhere as vendors of sausages and other inconsequential items, or remaining at home as disposable political thugs and candidates of cultist groups.”
Desmond Ogba, a lawyer from Oshiri in Onicha LGA, used this year’s World Teachers’ Day, to reach out to the primary school he attended in his community.
Ogba told Daily Sun that he had every 5th day of October, in the last 10 years, made a conscious effort to celebrate the World Teachers’ Day by reaching out to as many teachers as he could to appreciate them for the work that they do in making the world a better place.
“This year, I spent some time reflecting on how I could support teachers and the education system, and this led to my undertaking three different projects: one for each of the three tiers of the school system.
“I commenced the complete remodelling and refurbishment of a public primary school that has been derelict for years in my ancestral home in Oshiri, Ebonyi State, by reconstructing the classes, creating more classrooms, supplying new desks, switching the charcoal boards to whiteboards, creating a more befitting staff room and head teacher’s office, building a play area for the kids, improving the football field, and setting up a small library and computer room.
“A conducive learning environment might be important but good education is beyond brick and mortar. So, beyond these, I am driving the recruitment of a few more qualified and passionate teachers to supplement and support those provided by the government,” Ogba stated.
Ban on out-of-school children
In Afikpo LGA, the people of the area are troubled by the growing truancy among school children. They regretted that the area was contributing to the over 20 million out-of-school children in Nigeria. So, the community recently banned children aged six to 15 from being seen outside school premises from 8am to 2pm, Mondays to Fridays, during school sessions.
The proclamation was made at a mandatory meeting of men and women of all age grades in the town on September 23, 2023, with representatives of the state government and Afikpo Local Government Council in attendance.
Part of the resolutions was that children seen outside the school premises will be apprehended, and their parents or immediate community fined N5,000. Teachers found outside the school premises shall also be apprehended, and the same fine of N5,000 shall apply.
Speaker of the Esaa Elders Traditional Council, Christopher Abagha Egwu, decried the falling standards of education in Afikpo. He noted that education had been the path to the progress of their people.
“Education was the comparative advantage of the Afikpo man. Today, we have lost that advantage. Our young people are dropping out of schools in droves and the performance of our students is disheartening. This is an existential crisis to the Afikpo man,” Egwu lamented.
The meeting also resolved to set up a taskforce consisting of the youth age grade for the effective implementation of the ban.
Leader of the youth age grade, Obila Ode and a school teacher, Mrs Nkechinyere Oko, both assured that the ban will be effectively implemented.
Coordinator of Afikpo Education Support Group, Ewah Otu Eleri, praised the outcome of the meeting and urged the Ebonyi State Government to reciprocate the gesture by removing all fees from primary one to junior secondary school, and ensure effective funding of education.
Push for free and compulsory basic education in public schools
Meanwhile, Ebonyi Transparency and Accountability Network (ETAN), an NGO consisting of professionals from the state resident in Nigeria and abroad, has appealed to the governor to declare free and compulsory basic education in public schools in line with the provisions of the Universal Basic Education Act, 2004, and best practice.
In a letter dated October 10, 2023, and signed by Okey Nwosu (President) and Ikechukwu Igbo (Secretary), ETAN stated: “If the nine-year basic education is made mandatory and adequately incentivized, most out-of-school children from Ebonyi State will return to the classroom and be better equipped for a more prosperous future.”
ETAN told the governor that many Ebonyians are very willing to educate their children but face the hurdle of school fees and other costs of education amid the prevailing economic challenges in the state and country.
Recognising that youth education is the biggest driver of development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the group declared its readiness to partner the government in improving basic education in the state.
The body noted that the Universal Basic Education Act, 2004, stipulates that services in public primary and junior secondary schools should be free of charge.
Based on this, ETAN urged Governor Nwifuru to make the employment of qualified teachers a priority, while paying attention to training and retraining of teachers and leveraging technology to improve teaching.
It further said that improving infrastructure in the state’s primary and secondary schools will enhance the conditions necessary for excellent learning to occur.
“ETAN is willing and available to leverage the numerous professionals within the Network to support your administration in the development of strategies to improve access to quality basic education in Ebony State.
“We will call together our members with access to donor and development organizations to support the State in accessing financial and other necessary support for the education sector once we have a clear education strategy approved by the governor.
“We will mobilize Ebonyians at home and in the diaspora to contribute to improving infrastructure for education, scholarships and partnerships with international training institutions, to complement the noble efforts of your administration,” the group assured Nwifuru.
Government affirms commitment to revamp basic education
It is important to mention that the Umahi-led administration was not oblivious of these things as it had actually in July 2021, through an announcement by the then Secretary to the State Government, Dr. Kenneth Ugbala, declared a state of emergency on education in the state.
Yet, the present administration said it was aware of the myriads of challenges currently facing basic education and teachers, in the state.
The government also disclosed that it was doing everything within its ambit to address the issues, adding that Governor Nwifuru was not paying lip service to them.
Commissioner for Education (Primary and Secondary), Prof. Paul Nwobashi, stated this in a telephone interview. He said: “The current government is taking statistics of all those issues to address them. In the nearest future, all those things will be addressed. Government is not happy about the sufferings of both the pupils and their teachers as well.
“His Excellency is making sure that soonest, all these issues become a thing of the past. These problems will be history soonest. And we are also calling on relevant stakeholders to join hands in making sure the change we desire in this sector, comes faster.
“Education-both basic and tertiary is number one in the governor’s manifesto and he’s not joking over it. And to handle these issues headlong, he has brought in many people to tackle them. Therefore, anybody who says the governor is not aware of these issues, is a joker. He’s aware of them and he’s tackling them. Education is the governor’s number one priority.”
Speaking at a town hall meeting facilitated by an NGO, Youthhub-Africa, under the Accountability for Good Governance in Education (AGGE) Cluster project, sponsored by USAID-Palladium, in Abakaliki, Ebonyi UBEB Chairman, Mrs Patience Ogodo, and the Secretary, Livinus Ezeuwa, assured that no stone will be left unturned in confronting challenges plaguing basic education in the state.
Ezeuwa said that the Board was determined to improve school infrastructure as well as check absenteeism and truancy through effective supervision.
A technocrat with keen interest in revamping the basic education sector of Ebonyi State, Chief David Nwachukwu, counselled that while the state government has a primary responsibility, it is important for parents and host communities to step in and complement the efforts of the government.
Also, the Governor has assured that education will remain the priority of his government.
“We are very much badly challenged in the area of education and we have agreed in Exco that we are going to send 100 First Class and 2nd Class Upper graduates to countries of their choice to further their education, when they come back they will teach in our schools.
“We will also send 300 persons to do their Masters in any Nigeria higher institutions of their choice.
“We have a lot of challenges in the education sector and as far as I am concerned, we are going to get it back by having quality teachers in primary and secondary schools,” Nwifuru said.
“We must build a strong partnership between communities and the government in the management of public primary schools. Parents and communities must not only show more interest in the provision of amenities but must also ensure that teachers take their responsibilities seriously,” Nwachukwu counselled.
•With additional reports from
Wilson Okereke in Afikpo