- Students, alumni, teachers cry out over dilapidated infrastructure
- School not under govt- Imo education commissioner
Students and alumni of the Okpala Secondary School, Eziama, Ngor Okpala, Imo State, have raised the alarm over the decrepit state of infrastructure in the school.
They said that the dilapidated infrastructure at the school had continued to make learning difficult for the current students.
Investigations at the school by our correspondents, revealed that many of the students sit on the floor to receive lessons, while the institution’s toilets and premises also lack water. There is also little or no furniture in the classrooms and laboratories. The school library is without books. Also, there is no white markers for the teacher’s use in the classroom.
“Our classrooms didn’t just get to this level now. They have been like that in the past five years and many of us have to sit on the floor to write notes during lessons. Some students bring newspapers from their homes, which they spread on the floor of the classroom to sit on. We want the government to come and visit our school so as to know what is really happening,” a student, who pleaded anonymity, said.
Speaking in the same vein, another student told one of our correspondents, “Not only that the classrooms have no chairs, also our laboratories and computer rooms, for instance, are very empty as there is no single functioning system there and the girls hostel has been overgrown with weed, as I am speaking with you.”
A member of the school’s alumni association committee, Mr. Success Udoka, noted that the old students had been donating notebooks to the school, adding that last year an alumnus donated a set of computer system during their visit to the school.
Udoka, however, accused the state government of not paying attention to the rehabilitation of schools in its governance agenda, which he alleged had made the school’s infrastructure to decay.
Another alumni of the school, Mrs. Lilian Inochiri, said that government attention had been drawn to the issue, saying, “Some alumni in the past year had previously notified the state education board, the Ministry of Education and the state government itself about the poor state of the school’s infrastructure, but had yet to get any response.
“I believe the regulatory body assigned with maintaining standard in the state is not working as assumed by the authorities. The government had been notified of the degenerated status of the school’s standards in all aspects, but no response has been received yet. We are appealing to public- spirited individuals, philanthropists and politicians to come to our aid, especially the students, who will be writing their NECO Examinations. They need electricity urgently.”
A teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, due to the sensitive nature of the issue, told one of our correspondents that the dearth of teachers in the school and the local government area, in general, had been a source of challenge to the institution.
She said, “A situation whereby a single teacher is charged with the responsibility of handling three classes from Monday to Friday is very tedious, energy-sapping and uninspiring for the teachers such that most times we find it difficult to prepare adequate lesson notes that will take care of the multi-classes we have to teach in a day.
“As a result of this, we sometimes bring the various classes together to teach them. We need the government to expedite action on this issue by carrying out massive recruitment of qualified teachers that will address this. If this is done, the stress we go through in preparing their lesson notes, delivering their lessons in the classroom and marking of take-home-work, test and examination answer scripts, will be greatly reduced.”
SCHOOL IS VICTIM OF POLITICS-PRINICIPAL
In his reaction, the principal of the school, Mr. Dickson Ugochukwu, disclosed that the institution used to be controlled by the government before the missionaries took it over.
Ugochukwu said, “Nobody knows how the Faith Tabernacle Congregation of Nigeria came in to claim ownership of the secondary school founded in 1964.I remember in 1975 when Akpobia Asika government took over administration in the old Eastern States, the government paid compensation to the missionaries and took over the administration of schools in the region.
“However, when Governor Ikedi Ohakim came to power, politics came into play and the schools were returned to the missionaries. But Okpalla Secondary School was not among the schools handed over to the missionaries. Suddenly, Oguta Girls Secondary School was erased from the Gazette and replaced with Okpalla Secondary School with biro.
“Today, the school which is the only secondary school in four autonomous communities-Okpalla, Eziama, Ekwu-Angbom and Iemma, is a shadow of itself with roofs of the buildings blown off.”
He appealed to the current administration in the state to take over the management of the school, since the four communities could no longer avoid funding the school, which they took over from the missionary as a private school.
“We want the government to take over the school. We don’t have offices, we cannot even afford chalk, and students are paying school fees of N2000 to sustain the running of the school,” he said.
TAKE OVER SCHOOL NOW, TRADITIONAL RULER APPEALS TO GOVT
Also speaking, the traditional ruler of Okpalla community, the Okpo 111 of Okpalla, Sir Kelechi Okereke, said that the communities had tried their best to manage the school on their own, when the Faith Tabernacle decided to withdraw its ownership of the institution.
He appealed to the state government to take over the school to enable the people of the communities to also benefit from the government’s free education programme.
SCHOOL NOT UNDER GOVT CONTROL- EDUCATION COMMISSIONER
In the same vein, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Gertrude Ego Oduka, told one of our correspondents that the school, “is a private school which was being managed by Faith Tabernacle Church.
“It is not a public school. It was one of the schools ceded to missionaries. The church abandoned the school, which was taken over by the communities. They are now making efforts to make the government to take over the school.”
Oduka disclosed that before now, the state government since 2015, had supplied 140 chairs and desks to the secondary school.
She, however, denied claims that the students of the school sit on the bare floor for their lessons, saying, “We paid an unscheduled visit to the school last Monday; no student was seen sitting on the floor. The government even supplied 140 chairs and desks to the school in 2015, not minding that the school is a private school.
“Initial I wanted to sack the principal because as a responsible leader, you don’t allow structures to collapse on your head before you raise the alarm. When I realised that the principal was not hired by the government, but by the communities, I was hapless.”
According to her, the communities and traditional ruler are writing for the government to take back the management of the school as the
school has been gazetted as being owned by the missionary.
She also advised the communities to make efforts to assist the government in running education, adding that government could not do it alone.
“Education has never been left to government alone. Good-spirited individuals should come and
help to contribute to education,” Oduka said.
