Ogun school where pupils learn under leaky roof

Ogun school where pupils learn under leaky roof

Monday, 15 December 2014 / No Comments

Community Primary School located in Warewa, Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State caters for about 10 adjourning communities but it lacks adequate facilities and its milieu is not conducive to learning, writes GBENGA ADENIJI

The stretch of road leading to Community Primary School located on kilometre 15 Lagos/Ibadan Expressway in Warewa, Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State is tarred. But the attractiveness of the road is punctuated by a ramshackle building overlooking it.

The building, which is the first contact when a visitor enters the school compound, is unpainted, algae-infested and leaky. Besides, it will be hard to believe that it is a classroom not only because it is not plastered but also for its shed-like structure despite the four iron poles fortifying the broken, front part.

Our correspondent who visited the school on Tuesday discovered that the pupils and their teachers had been grappling with the situation since its establishment in 2007.

It was also gathered that authorities of the school often had challenges whenever it rained. One of the teachers who refused to give her name told SUNDAY PUNCH that learning of pupils occupying the classroom had been disrupted many times during rainy season. The teacher also added that the block of classrooms was donated by the Parent Teacher Association when the school was established in 2007. It is occupied by the kindergarten and nursery sections of the school.

“The roof is leaky hence it is not often a pleasant experience whenever it rains. Everywhere in the classroom would be flooded and the pupils’ bags soaked. It is usually tough if the wind precedes the rain. There is no way we can continue with teaching in such a situation because we have to take the pupils to one of the congested classes in the school,” the teacher said.





Apart from the building, a block of three classrooms and an office was also constructed during the administration of a former Ifo Local Government Chairman, Mr. Sikirulai Ogundele, and commissioned on Tuesday, December 2, 2008 by the then government of Otunba Gbenga Daniel. The three classrooms pitiably cast semblance of a school on the learning centre even though their interior was nothing to write home about.

The classrooms were not plastered, dusty, lacked sufficient chairs and the teachers barely managed to sit comfortably on squeaky seats complemented by tables weakened by writing materials, lesson notes and notebooks.

SUNDAY PUNCH gathered that each of the three classrooms accommodates two classes of pupils. For instance, the first classroom is populated by primary one and two; the second accommodates primary three and four while the third classroom houses primary five and six pupils.

Primary one has 27 pupils, primary 2; 27, primary 3; 30, primary four; 27, while primaries five and six has 27 pupils each. There had been no addition to the classrooms by subsequent governments despite the school’s expanse land.

Our correspondent observed that merging of the classes made the teachers to be cautious of raising their voices while teaching so as not to disturb each other since the combined classes were not partitioned.

A teacher in the school who described the situation as worrisome said it could hinder quality learning since pupils too would be careful not to express themselves too loud in order not to disturb their counterparts learning at the other side of the classroom.

There is also no toilet facility in the school which caters for neighbouring communities such as Warewa, Banku, Mokore and Arigbede among others. This development, SUNDAY PUNCH learnt, made the pupils and the teachers resort to open defecation whenever they wanted to ease their bowels. As our correspondent walked round the school compound, some of the pupils were seen running to the bushy part of the school to answer the call of nature.

The unfenced structure of the compound had exposed it to many untoward situations like serving as a rendezvous for social miscreants.

Minister urges National Library to embrace ICT

Minister urges National Library to embrace ICT

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The Minister of State for Education, Prof. Viola Onwuliri, has urged the National Library of Nigeria to bridge the digital divide and provide effective services in line with the present global Information and Communication Technology trend.
The minister stated that in this digital era, the virtual library should take a centre stage of the NLN’s services.
Speaking during the golden jubilee celebration of the NLN in Abuja, Onwuliri, said that the agency should take a pivotal role in the “Bring Back the Book” campaign.
She admonished the management and members of staff of the institution not to relent in their efforts to make the NLN a national information reference centre.
The minister, who hailed the activities of the library, described librarians as catalysts for human development and transmission of knowledge and culture.
Onwuliri said, “As the National Library of Nigeria begins another phase, which will gradually take it to 100 years of existence, the management and staff should have in the back of their minds that they will always provide effective services in line with the present global ICT trend. This is to bridge the digital divide, which is usually experienced in developing nations, such as ours.”
According to the NLN Director, Mallam Habib Jato, the NLN captures and preserves the memory and culture of the nation and has the obligation to educate the citizenry.
He explained that in its 50 years, the organisation, through the efficient and effective service delivery, had worked to satisfy the information and research needs of the public.
He said, “The glaring success of the information and research support services of the organisation are its contributions to democracy, good governance, national development and human rights and justice. The organisation has listened and responded meaningfully to the information needs of the nation through the gathering and acquisition of information materials in various forms and formats.

How N165,000 saved James Aninyem from quitting school

How N165,000 saved James Aninyem from quitting school

Tuesday, 29 October 2013 / No Comments

A HUNDRED and sixty five thousand naira, the amount some Nigerians spend to acquire a mobile phone, gold wristwatch or 40-inch plasma television set, was all it required to ensure that the young, budding 14-year-old James Aninyem did not quit secondary school.
     But for the timely intervention, made by the Senior Management Programme (SMP) Class 47 of the Lagos Business School (LBS), Aninyem would have, indeed, been forced to quit the Ansar-Ud-Deen Grammar School (AGS), Surulere, Lagos, where, in SS1, he had already shown a lot of promise, even in sports.
     And at a recent, brief ceremony, where the cheque was handed over to the school management as part payment of his fees for the next three years, a tearful Miss Tonia Aninyem, James’ elder sister, who works as a waitress and had brought James over to Lagos from the village, could not believe her eyes. She had decided to pull James out of school, because she simply could not afford to continue to pay his fees.
     Boxed into a corner where she was forced to take the painful decision, Tonia said she came to the realisation that her meager monthly salary of N25, 250, which she earns a waiter, could no longer sustain James in school and also cater for his other brother’s needs, who also lives with her.
     She said, “their mother is alive but their father died when they (James and his brother) were very young and they were abandoned in the village. I decided to bring him and his younger brother to Lagos with me because I wanted them to have a better future. I did not go far in my education, but I told myself that I would give them what I couldn’t have because of poverty.”
     On how she had been paying James’ fees before the intervention, she said, “what kept me going for the past three years that James has been in the school, was the school’s support. I was allowed to pay the fees in installments. From my salary, I take out some money every month to pay the fees.  I started with about N28, 000, but when he was about to enter SS1, I was told to pay over N100, 000. And since I couldn’t afford that kind of money, I decided to pull him out to another public non- fee paying school.”
      The pretty Tonia, who decided to relegate marriage to the background because of her fear of what would happen to the children if she gets married, expressed hope not just for James but also for her entire family.
        With what James has now been offered by the LBS class, she said she could now see a very bright future before him. “I am proud of him because I know he is a very humble child,” she stated.  “He was chosen and by the grace of God, he deserves it. He needs extra encouragement now to do more to make the school and his benefactors proud. I will be alive, by the grace of God, to see him come back to this school and do something because they are the people, who gave us hope when we felt the end had come.    
     On how she feels about the LBS Class’ gesture, Tonia said, “you have no idea. You can see me shedding tears. I wanted to stop the tears and say thank you to everyone, but the tears just won’t stop. My tears of joy.”
      To the benefactors, she said, “if there is any word greater than ‘thank you,’ I owe it to them. I thank them for remembering that there are some under-privileged children out there.”
     Explaining how it all began, the school’s Principal, Mr. Badru Adeniran said, “a member of the LBS/SMP Class 47, came to the school about a month ago and we had a chat. He said the group wanted to give something back to the community. Since we didn’t have a capital project on ground, I suggested scholarship awards and they agreed. We went through the results of our students and we identified James Aninyem as a candidate that cuts across, in terms of academics and in terms of sports.”
     Describing James as a “fantastic boy,” he affirmed, “we wouldn’t have settled for him if I wasn’t convinced about his personality, his future and the promise he holds.”
     Recalling how he felt when he learnt about James’ imminent pullout from school, he said, “I felt terrible. Even when his younger brother was withdrawn, we felt bad. Even if you have a million students, you don’t want anyone to leave and we are talking about a student, who is good in sports, in cricket specifically. The school came fourth nationally in the cricket game held in Ibadan and he was in the team. We also won the Lagos State junior Cricket cup and he was part of the team. We wouldn’t want to lose such a student.”
     He announced that the group has also promised to pay for the remaining three years James would spend in the school, which would amount to a little less than half a million naira (N496, 000).
     Adeniran admitted that there are other students in a situation similar to James.’ He called on other public-spirited Nigerians to rescue other children in dire need of educational sponsorship.
     “We have lost so many students due to the fact that parents cannot cope with the financial burden. Miss Aninyem paid as little as N1,500,  just to keep the boy in school. She continued to pay piecemeal and we allowed her to do that because we don’t want the boy to leave,” he said.
       The Group’s President, Mr. Ubong King said, “in our class, we have identified that, in the quest for education, funding is a limiting factor in the country. A lot of people don’t have the opportunity to go through school or they don’t get to finish school because of funding. So, members of our class decided to put resources together and support children.
     “We got information that a student, who is also a valuable asset, was on the verge of leaving the school because of financial constraint. We had to step in immediately. We are 44 in the class and we are the first modular set in the Lagos Business School. Our classmates are scattered all over Nigeria. We meet once every month for six months in Lagos. We interact a lot and after this, we are expected to give a report to the class.”