The Management of Kofar Nassarawa Model Primary School in Kano Municipal Area on Thursday decried dearth of infrastructure in schools across the country.
The Head Teacher of the school, Mr Abdussalam Mohammad made the observation when the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) led journalists on field trip to access Early Childhood Care Centre (ECC) in the school in Kano.
Mohammad said the decay infrastructure was responsible for poor educational standard in the country, adding that majority of the infrastructure that could enhance teaching and learning were not available in most schools.
Mohammad listed some specific challenges in the school as dilapidated blocks of classrooms, roof, water, teaching materials, furniture recreational facilities, inadequate fund among others.
He, however, commended the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of the school for providing the school bus, some recreational materials, air conditioner in the computer room as well as funding of the women and children excursion when necessary.
Speaking on Early Childhood Care facility effectiveness in the school, he commended the government for providing some materials that would enhance pupils performance in the school.
He, however, described those materials as grossly inadequate and called on the government and donor agencies to aid them with fund, books, furniture among others
“The admission and annual fees are N2, 000 and N500 respectively and this money is not enough for us to impact effectively on the Children.
“On the issue of water, we buy on 50 gallons of 25litres of water to meet the sanitary needs of the pupils but if we have the tap running in the school such expenses will not be there.
“We plead with government to prioritise provision of water and other amenities that will boost school attendance and performance,” he said.
Similarly, Mrs Maryam Yusuf one of the teachers in the pre-primary class or ECC attributed the large turnout of pupils in the session to awareness on the part of parents on the need to explore the facility.
Yusuf identified some challenges of the teachers as skills and knowledge to impart effectively on the pupils.
According to her, the teachers are suppose to posses certain special skills to enable them teach the children better but we lack such.
“We call on government to assist us with requisite training and skills to enable us serve these children better.
“Knowledge is dynamic, continuous training of teachers will go a long way to improve service delivery in schools.
“Government should also provide materials that would enhance teaching and learning in the school,” she said. (NAN)
