Wike’s Secondary School Decays
Edith CHUKU
Government Secondary School, Eneka in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, the school that the state governor, Chief Nyesom Wike attended, is in a very terrible state of decay.
The school which is located in Rumuesara community used to be among the very few alluring and sought after secondary schools in Rivers State, owned and run by the state government.
When TNN visited the school last weekend, the sight was indeed gory. While the Universal Basic Education section of the school has undergone a remarkable transformation with an outstanding edifice, some classroom blocks, staff quarters of the senior secondary are in shambles.
TNN observed that the UBE school buildings have been rehabilitated, with new classroom blocks, library, staff offices, water facility, toilets constructed to provide comfortable and conducive learning environment for the staff and students, by the federal government.
The repairs in the UBE section which shares same compound with the senior section is similar to pouring a new wine into an old bottle as the school environment is seriously crying for urgent intervention.
Some of the blocks seeking immediate rehabilitation is the dreadful senior secondary school science laboratory whose roof has collapsed.
TNN was informed that for about two years now, the entire block has not been in use, an indication that science students in the school have not been having practical classes.
Other areas include the dilapidated teachers’ quarters, while some roofs are being supported with blocks, some of the zincs entirely removed, exposing the building, which might lead to flooding of the apartments. Again, most of the windows are left open.
The assembly hall, which was formerly a dining hall when it was a boarding school, is an eyesore. The entire ceilings are off while a section of the school has been turned to a dump site for over 100 unrepaired school desks.
But the chairman, Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board, UBEB, Ven. Archdcn Fyneface Akah, has assured residents of Eneka Clan in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state of the readiness of the state government to reconstruct Government Secondary School, Eneka.
Akah stated this in a telephone interview with TNN in reaction to an intense plea made by staff and student of the institution who lamented over the very terrible decaying state of the school.
According to the state chairman of the SUBEB, “It would have been better you reached the commissioner for education, it’s the commissioner who has a more reliable or credible response because that has to do with the senior secondary section, we are concerned with the junior school, the UBE section, but in any case I am sure that there is a ray of hope for G.S.S Eneka.
“I am an Eneka man. So, part of the budget for 2021 has accommodated the window for reconstruction of the whole school. So all boarding effects, teaching and learning infrastructure will be restored like he has done in some other schools few years back,
“Eneka school was nominated for that same effect and he (the governor) has approved it, so it’s just a matter of time, I’m sure that some contractors are already visiting the place to do mapping of the extent of what they have to do, I’m aware of that.
“Let them please be patient, things will fall into their proper balances very soon.”
Speaking on the sorry state of the school, a native e who spoke with TNN said “the place is over rotten. They are working the UBE well, the chairman is working there steady. They built lab. If you enter down there, they built library there, yes.
“Look at where students hold their chemistry and physics practical, it has fallen, didn’t you see how it has fallen? He is working in the UBE; most persons are saying that he should use the opportunity to rehabilitate this senior section.
A student who also spoke on the ground of anonymity blamed the alleged destruction of school properties on graduating students.
He said, “I am a student of G.S.S Eneka. Our environment in G.S.S Eneka is not tidy, it’s not clean and our water tank, grass has almost filled it, like after school S.S. 3 students like to destroy things and they are always condemning us that it’s the junior classes.
As I’m saying this now, our school is getting kind of rare because our S.S. 3 block is falling and we are not in good learning condition because of our population in a class.”
He also confirmed that students sit on the floor to learn. Reacting to how many students they have in a class, he said “we have up to or more than hundred in a class, talking about the chairs we are sitting on, the chairs are not good and normally our uniforms gets tear(sic) by the chairs, we are praying that by next term, there will be changes in the situation of our school.
“The school lab has been condemned because nobody uses it again, the chemical lab, the environment looks like the zinc is about to collapse, it’s not a good learning environment, I’m taking it that that place is not comfortable for us because it’s putting our lives at risk, we are praying for the government to look into this situation.
“For our former devotion hall, they’ve stopped using it, they condemned it, the only people that normally stay there are people that their class is over populated, they just take them there and I’m sure that there is no seat there, they sit on the floor because of population and we don’t even have chairs.”
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He applauded the government for the fencing of the school but added that the lives of the students were at risk because of the environment. He further appealed for “government to come and help us G.S.S Eneka in the way they can, even if they can just provide chairs for us so we don’t sit on the floor, and they should build more blocks so that the population will reduce in each class.
“Again, the school is normally flooded when it rains, all students, we will have to pull our stockings, sandals and step into the water, to walk home, it’s not good.”
