February 18, 2025

TNN Newspaper

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Another Rivers Pry School Allowed To Decay

4 min read

Edith CHUKU


Despite public outcry, many public schools in Rivers State, especially in rural communities, have remained in very deplorable conditions.

This is even as the government appropriated about N72 billion for education in the 2024 budget.

Two weeks ago, TNN visited the only state government owned school; Community Secondary School Kaani (CSS Kaani), in Khana Local Government Area of the state.

Aside the gory environment, students of CSS Kaani, share most of their classrooms with snakes, as grasses and trees have grown to the roof top. An abandoned uncompleted building identified as the school laboratory where students in senior secondary school, mostly those preparing for WAEC are expected to hold their practical, is without roof, doors nor windows, and giant grasses has overtaken the entire space.

The situation was not any better with some other classrooms, devotion ground, staff room blocks. The only classrooms with roof had their fair share of dilapidation. Some has broken floor, walls, and one cannot count upto 30 desks in the entire school, both junior and senior sessions.

Kaani Secondary School does not have a toilet, but has a very deep soak-away pit that is not properly covered, on the path leading to staff room and the assembly ground.

Grasses has also taken over the uncompleted security post while the sign post which is expected to carry the name of the school, has been turned into an obituary announcement point with so many posters of dead people.

Last weekend, our correspondent was at Ibaa Community in Emohua Local Government Area of the state and visited the Ibaa community school three.

There is only one building standing with roof and six classrooms. It has no door, window, and less than ten desks in the entire classrooms.

The floor of the classrooms are very rough and the entire environment very horrible. The other builders are in their very worse abandoned state, not roofed and overtake by grasses and big tress.

In an interview, one Mrs. Uchechi Orji, recalled the glory days of the school, when the environment was conducive, students in their hundreds attended the school and they had enough desk.

She lamented that the school currently has, “no chair, no nothing, nothing dey for this school, this environment sef don make our children don run finish, them no dey come here because nothing dey.

“We want government to look after this school, nothing dey, nothing, nothing, so make una help us to tell government say for this Ibaa no school, make them come help us. Our children no dey learn anything because of how the school dey, wey them come today, tomorrow them no go come because them dey sit don for ground; you see any chair there? So, our people, we dey suffer well, well because of this school.

“Make una help us tell government make them come help Ibaa School Three, we don die, abeg, make them come help us.”

When asked if there were other government schools in Ibaa, she said, “school one dey, school one dey okay. School two dey okay but eh far, this one dey close well, well. This school, I know know whether na bribe, bribe dey kill this school, so make una help us tell government.

“We don die, we dey cry, make them come help us. Any help wey una go help make this school three stand. Before I dey hear about this school three, before I come marry here, but when I come here, I carry my children to this school, nothing, nothing. Teachers them dey come oo but because of the environment we don carry our pikin commot go private school.

“Make una help us, when them do am well now, we go come back here because the school is better.”

Meanwhile, an official in the state ministry of education who did not want to be named, revealed that rehabilitation of dilapidated state-government-owned schools would soon commence.

The source told TNN in an interview that, “I can conveniently tell you that the ministry has embacked on needs assessment of all the primary and secondary schools as directed by the governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, and that report is with the governor.

“I think it is with it that they will want to get the worse hit. The same thing they did in health, very soon they will come up with that of school.”

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