Follow Us on Google
Job Osazuwa
The moment the bell rang, signalling the commencement of the break period, pupils raced out of their classrooms. In twos and threes, they roughly nudged one another, giggling all the way.
Time was 11am. As they emptied into the large open space, it was apparent that the pupils were unperturbed by the poor condition of their learning environment. Their innocent faces saw no looming danger. But even if they did, the pupils had no other space to fulfil their academic pursuit.
Most of them were in rumpled uniforms. The blue shorts and white tops had been battered and dented by consistent dust. The white had metamorphosed to something between brown and grey. Some of them were barefooted. But they could not be bothered.
A walk into the head teachers’ office would evoke pity. With walls that had never been plastered, dusty floor and vacant windows, the spacious office was ready for the head teacher and her assistants. Three tables and chairs were set to enable them execute the daily activities.
Welcome to Central Primary School, Orile-Iganmu, Coker-Aguda Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State. The school boasts of at least 1,000 pupils, even if the classrooms to accommodate half the number were hardly available.
Daily Sun found that the premises played host to another primary school, Local Authority (LA) Primary School. Luckily for the LA, the pupils had a new building relatively conducive for learning. While pupils in the LA school enjoyed the new facilities, including ceiling fans in some classrooms, their counterparts in “Central” were huddled together in the available classrooms in an uncompleted building.
Many would easily conclude that acquiring education under that condition was such a risky venture for kids. More than 200 pupils are herded together in a single classroom to be receiving lectures.
And the teachers were not left out in the daily struggle. In the recent past, they were not even offered a roofed space. The open field had once been their ‘staffroom.’ It was where they prepared their lesson notes until additional structures were approved for the school.
To decongest the classes and make learning better for the pupils, it was gathered that a contract for the construction of a storey building, comprising 13 standard classrooms, staffrooms, and toilets was awarded to be built with counterpart funding by the federal and state governments.
When the contractor started work on the building in 2015, the community, as well as staff and pupils of the school, went into jubilation. They believed that their days of sorrow were numbered. The project was to be delivered within six months. But five years down the line, it has remained an uncompleted structure even as the project has been abandoned.
It was gathered that the federal government promptly fulfilled its own part, while the lagos State government, under the last administration, allegedly looked the other way. And all attempts to make the state complete the building hit a brick wall. Though already roofed, the building has been left lying fallow for years, as the pupils remain in the old building.
A teacher in the school, who did not want her name in print, told the reporter that, about a year ago, when it started raining, they were forced to move some classes from the small structure to the ground floor of the uncompleted storey building in spite of the risk.
“It is better than the old building where the roof was leaking. When it rained, the affected classrooms would be filled with water. There was no way the pupils were concentrating then. Though there are no windows here, it is better than the other old building where we were always drenched whenever it rained.
“We are begging government to complete this place for us so that we can enjoy the full facilities. The students will perform better in a better environment. The teachers’ morale will be boosted when the right facilities are in place. We also need more teachers in the school,” she said.
A check round the school revealed that it had only one toilet for the staff and two for all the pupils, who number above 1,000. When the pupils are on break, it is usually a chaotic scene as they struggle to use the limited facility. In most cases, it was learnt that they end up defecating or urinating in any available space, instead of waiting endlessly on the queue for the toilet.
On the fence of the school facing Coker Road, the entire stretch is littered with refuse. One needs to cover one’s nose while passing through the area. This poses the risk of possible outbreak of epidermis.
The general secretary of both Ogunsanya Community Development Association (CDA) and the joint CDAs in Orile, Mr. Bode Olatunde, described the situation as an eyesore. He stated that the association had written many letters to the past administration to intervene and complete the building but all to no avail.
“Even Senator Oluremi Tinubu knows about the challenge we are having with the project. She also told us that the Federal Government has played its part and the rest is left for Lagos State government. The Local Authority School is okay but the Central is still suffering.
“We have confidence in our governor that he will look into the issue and complete the project. We are really concerned about the structure because our children are our hope for a better tomorrow. We understand Gov. Sanwo-Olu is busy trying to fix other problems in the state one after the other, particularly road, so that traffic congestion will reduce. I am optimistic that he will come to our aid when reminded of the abandoned building,” Olatunde said.
He stated that the community was already proposing that, by the time the building was completed, a suggestion would be made to the Ministry of Education to convert a part of the building to a junior secondary school. He said that would have eased the stress of the students in the community, who trek miles away to attend the government-owned secondary school in the LCDA.
Another member of the community, Alhaji Mustapha Abdul, said it was unfortunate that most governments in Nigeria don’t believe in continuity.
His words: “This is a small project that will not cost the state government much money to complete. More than 50 per cent of the work has been done. There are doors and burglary. We are all concerned in the community because this is the only government-owned primary school we have around here.
“To our surprise, three years ago, the former governor demolished the old and dilapidated building in the premises and rebuilt it within a year. He left this one to continue to rot away. There was nothing stopping him from contacting the contractor who started this storey building so that they could pay him the little balance left to enable him complete the project. Everybody wants to do things in their own way but this is not moving us forward.
“I now begin to understand why many contractors don’t take the risk of using their own money to execute projects for government. It is situations like this that teach them lessons. The structure cannot continue to be left like this because it is not safe for the people using it.
“I call on Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to come to our rescue, if not for anything, for the sake of the children. Continuing learning under such environment is to further expose the pupils to danger. There might be blocks, wood or roofing sheets that are not firmly fixed because the work stopped midway, yet the children are there. Something must be done urgently and I believe the governor will act accordingly.”
