Ebonyi State is one of the five Southeastern states in Nigeria and like all of the region, sectional agitations, conflict, and violence are the issues that have taken centre stage. However, before these challenges, states in the southeastern region have long faced development deficits.
In this report, Dataphyte examines the state of public education infrastructure in Ebonyi State. The result is poor to non-existent infrastructure and abandonment of public schools.
Uwana is in Afikpo North local government area of Ebonyi state and hosts the Uwana Comprehensive Secondary School. The Uwana Comprehensive Secondary School was established over forty years ago, and it is also the only public school in the community with a student population of over five hundred students who rely on the school for education and learning.
However, the only secondary school in the community has dilapidated and overcrowded classrooms, uncompleted buildings long abandoned, and students are often at the mercy of nature, huddled under trees, to receive lessons.
For the management, teachers, and pupils of Uwana Comprehensive, government presence is a mirage.
When Dataphyte visited the school, the school management noted that they have pleaded for support, but it has not yielded much results in the over forty years of the school’s existence.
“We have a lot of things that could have worked for us here, but we do not have any support despite being the only school available for people of the community” The school principal Mr. Orji Orji noted.
According to the school management, the buildings there are as a result of donations by community members who form a Parents Teachers’ Association to fund the institution.
Dataphyte earlier reported how what could have been government intervention in the school (a Teachers’ Quarters) is abandoned and suffering from corruption, and mismanagement.
Orji Orji told Dataphyte that some of the facilities have dilapidated to the extent that they pose a health and safety risk to students but they are still in use for lack of an alternative.
Dataphyte during its visit counted only ten staff members in the 500 students strong institution.
Despite the condition of the school, the management revealed that they have continued to make efforts in ensuring that their students come out with good results in West African Examination Council exams but there are limits to academic achievements given the gross lack of basic facilities to propel them further.
The same situation played out in Umunwagwu Secondary School where staff members who sought anonymity lamented the absence of government presence in the school.
Apart from poor facilities, the school suffers from understaffing.
Only four teachers were met in the makeshift staff room of the school revealing possible understaffing as described by staff members. As Dataphyte was taken around the school to examine the extent of abandonment, the staff members again lamented that they have tried to get government support but none has been forthcoming.
As revealed by Dataphyte’s report earlier the Teachers’ Quarters project that could have been a ‘significant’ government intervention is non-existent as monies released for the project cannot be accounted for
Numerous Commitments to Education Sector but Little to Show for it
In 2019, Governor David Umahi launched “Better Education Service Delivery for All”, according to him, the initiative was aimed at tackling illiteracy and out-of-school children in the state.
In the same year, the state government was quoted stating that N7.5 billion will be spent on renovating and equipping all public schools in the state. In 2020, he was quoted as saying that the Education sector will receive priority from his government in 2021 and urged parents to bring back their children to school.
However, checks by Dataphyte show a gap in this claim and current state of public schools in the state.
Existing structures are poor and cannot fully accommodate the current student population within the state.
In 2020, N27.0 billion was allocated to the education sector with N23.9 billion allocated in 2021 however the impact on education infrastructure especially in localities is questionable.
The sum of N24.4 billion has been allocated to the Ministry of Education in the state for 2022 and development actors would do well to watch how the funds will impact education infrastructure in the state.
Expert says Prioritize Education, Address Management
An education expert, Dr. Adebimpe Adigun, while encouraging the proper funding of education noted that there is a need to ensure that proper needs of schools are captured before funding.
She also advised that a monitoring team be set up to ensure that these schools do not just get government support on paper but all allocated to them are well utilised.
The education expert warned that there is danger in abandoning schools as education remains a key tool to economic and societal prosperity. Adigun cited an instance of Tertiary Education Fund where before now, schools sometimes failed to use funds for what they were given but a monitoring team resolved the issue and put many schools on their toes. She further stated that primary and secondary schools are key to the strengthening of tertiary education in the country.
Adigun called for partnership between citizens of the country and the government to ensure that tackling issues of negligence including accountability in the education sector is not left to the government alone.
Abandoned