Unguwar Dio pupils learn under mango tree

More than 45 per cent of the 300 pupils in the government primary school in Unguwar Dio learn under a mango tree in the community.

For residents of the community in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja, getting primary education comes at a great cost.

For more than one month after a strong wind pulled down a block of classrooms in the school, three classes have been displaced.

Some portions of the roof on the remaining block of classrooms were also battered by the rainstorm.

Both pupils inside and outside the classrooms now study under harsh conditions.

The pupils affected are mostly those in primary one and three. They learn in make shift classrooms under a mango tree and on the corridor of the battered building.

The classroom under the mango tree had about 20 pupils sitting on wood planks which obviously came from broken benches. The planks are supported by two bricks each. And there were no desks, forcing the pupils to place their books on their laps while they took notes from a black board placed on bricks and resting against a tree.

A female teacher sat uncomfortably on a creaking chair while she tries to make the pupils concentrate on their lessons and not be distracted.

Aso Chronicle observed that the pupils looked unkempt with most of them wearing tattered uniforms and looking weary under the harsh weather.

Our reporters also found out that the school is shut down whenever it rains or during strong winds because pupils under the tree and on the corridor would have to be merged with those in the only standing block of classroom.

Due to the situation, Ramatu Umar, is always concerned about the welfare of her six children whenever they leave for school.

She said the state of the school was pathetic and hopes something would be done to give the children a better learning environment.

“It is the only school in the community. The nearest school is in Yelwan Zuba and Tungan Maje which are not easily accessible,” she said, explaining why she had to enroll her children in the school despite its condition.

One of the school officials who pleaded anonymity said the school also has the challenges of shortage of staff, toilet facilities, writing and instructional materials.

The official said all the parents were sad about the situation and reluctantly sent their children to the school.

The official said the school had been relying on contributions from the Parents Teachers Association, “even the class that collapsed was built by the PTA,” the official added.

The PTA chairman, Jibrin Idi, corroborated this statement. He said a block of three classrooms was built by the association but a strong wind destroyed the building. He said the state of the school was not conducive for learning.

He said the building that collapsed was built by the PTA Continued from previous page

and that the extent of the damage was beyond what the association can now handle.

He said the residents were worried about the poor state of the school.

“Where our children receive lessons, under a tree, is not conducive for them at that age,” he added.

Idi said the PTA had been supporting the school and hoped the government would step in by providing them an appropriate place.

“Education is a right so despite the situation in the country, we will try our best to educate our children but we need government’s support,” he said.

Idi said the school management had been trying in containing the situation as they give some medications to the children obviously because of the harsh situation they are made to study.

Another official who would not want to be named also said the situation of the school was pathetic. He said there is another block of classrooms already completed by a donor agency within the school compound but it cannot be used “because it has not been handed over to the government.”

The building, a block of more than four classes, was built by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) according to a sign post outside the school.

The official said the school could only use the corridor of the building as a temporary place to teach the pupils while they await the commissioning of the other block of classrooms.

He said with the situation of the school, something drastic needed to be done to savage the situation and the future of the children.

Another parent, Hadiza Halidu, whose seven children attend the school said she enrolled her children in the school because it was free and parents only had to pay tokens to get their children enrolled.

She however expressed her displeasure at the school’s infrastructural decay.

She said it saddened her to see her children subjected to such condition and she could hardly do anything to change it, so she has resigned to fate.

While she hopes that God would intervene, an official in the school said they had on, at least three occasions, contacted the education authorities at Gwagwalada Area Council.

“We have even taken photographs of the school to them,” the official said, adding that they now await a favourable response from the government.

The official said the decision to leave the younger children outside was because they would not be easily carried away by happenings around them unlike those in senior classes.

The official admitted that with the situation in the school, pupils cannot be at their best because they could be easily distracted. Also, he said affected by the weather and without adequate writing and instructional materials, the teachers would not impart knowledge effectively.

“What do you expect from a child in a class without desk?” an official queried, though he said the pupils always put in their best in their studies.

The officials added that the school lacked a library and books, adding that they had to buy some books with their personal money, while they hope the government will heed to their cry.

Meanwhile, some of the residents have urged the government to also provide them with potable water in order to put an end to their drinking from contaminated sources of water. Hadiza Halidu said all residents drink stream water while they go to Tungan Maje or Yelwan Zuba during medical emergencies.

Pregnant women, she said, are taken on motorcycles to these communities while some have resorted to delivering at home due to the challenges of accessing quality primary healthcare.

She said the only infrastructure provided by the government was the school, which she said needed urgent attention.

POSTED BY:OPUOMONI PRIYE

DATE:05/11/2017