By Our Correspondent
#TrackNigeria –Ordinarily holiday period is meant for rest and recreation but for boarding Students of Suleman Barau Technical College (SBTC) and Government Secondary School (GSS) both in Suleja, Niger Sate, north-central Nigeria, the bitter memory of going back to their grossly dilapidated school hostels as well as poor feeding after the break is tainting their holiday feelings.
It would be recalled that schools in the state went on end of session holiday in July to resume early September.
The two schools are notable secondary education institutions in the state that has produced prominent leaders. Sadly, after gaining prominence as centres for qualitative education in the past both schools have been witnessing steady decline in both teaching and infrastructural facilities of late.
SBTC was established in 1969 as Suleman Barau Technical Teachers College (SBTTC) Suleja but later rechristened Suleman Barau Technical College in the early 1990s.
Newsdiaryonline had a chance meeting with two hostellers during an on the spot assessment of the school compound. One of them said that ‘‘we are staying with a friend in town to do menial jobs to raise money for resumption,’’ while his colleague said in a manner that connotes.
‘‘We need to raise something (money)
just add to what our parents will give us for resumption, because the school
does not feed us well,’’ the youngster who identified himself by an unpalatable
alias.
According to him ‘‘Niger State Government is not being fair to this school, some of our old boys have been telling us about the good old days in the school.’’
Talk about ‘‘good old days in the school may not stand rigorous scrutiny, as Newsdiaryonline could not find
While the conversation ensued
passersby occasionally stared at the dilapidated hostel blocks. Newsdiaryonline
heard no fewer than four of them saying in pigeon English ‘‘na here people
children dey sleep’’ (is this where people’s children sleep?). It was observed
that because of the lack of perimetre fence around, residents have turned most parts of the school
into a short cut road especially the backside of the hostel.
This many say exposes the boarding students to different forms of security risks. Newsdiaryonline gathered that less than a year ago thieves stormed the hostel at night and disposed the occupants of various amounts of money and other valuable items after beating them mercilessly.
Contrastingly, the three storey hostel of Bishop James Yisa Memorial School Suleja (BJY) another school nearby stands tall directly overlooking the crumbling government owned SBTC, thus creating an unhealthy divide between the appalling state of public schools in Niger State and thriving Privately owned schools.
Worried by the poor state of SBTC Suleja a former Principal of the school according inside sources ‘‘took it upon himself to make sure that there is enough power and water supplies to the institution’’ and to that effect an electricity transformer as well a solar power borehole was provided by the state government.
Newsdiaryoline can confirm that within the locality of the institution, SBTC can boast of the most reliable power supply. At night fall when there is no power supply to neighbouring areas including Comrade Aliyu, Turaki Streets amongst others, the school hides under the cover of darkness creating an impression of wellness with its lightings. But at dawn the school bounces back to its undignified look of worn out paints, rusted corrugated roofing sheets, untarred and stony walkways.
A former student of the school, who simply identified himself as Abubakar said while he was in the Motor Vehicle Mechanic (MVM), class there were ‘‘320’’ students in class.
For him the ‘‘teachers of the school are doing their best to train youths that can compete favourably with their peers anywhere in Nigeria, but the state of facility in the school is posing a major hindrance.’’
Newsdiaryoline also witnessed the overcrowded class rooms during an investigation visit to the school as students were seen spilling out of the over filled class rooms. The situation is creating great apathy in learning by students.
A former hosteller who is currently in Senior Secondary School (SSS) 2, said that there are no fewer than 2,000 students in the school. It is common place to see SBTC students loitering around the school locality despite efforts by the authority to tackle the growing tide of truancy amongst students.
The situation is not too different in Government Secondary School Suleja where the facilities are not only in poor state but over stretched. Although, the issue of overcrowding is not as severe as that of SBTC Suleja but they share great similarities in terms of poor feeding and dilapidated hostels.
Newsdiaryonline gathered that the last major facelift the school got is over 20 years ago and was facilitated by an old boy of the institution late Dr. Musa Inuwa, one time civilian governor of Niger State from January 1992 to November 1993.
It would be recalled that Inuwa who
died on January 16, 2010 at the age of 62 became governor of the state under
the military administration of former President Ibrahim Badamasi
Babangida before he handed over to an interim government in August 1993.
The transitional government which was headed by Chief Ernest Shonekan was removed by a palace coup that brought in the late General Sani Abacha on November 17, 1993.
The issue of neglect in educational facilities in Nigeria cuts across all the three tiers of government in the country. However, the scenarios which currently taking its toll on the quality of education in the country is more prevalent at states and local government levels.
According to the website ThoughtCo. ‘‘overcrowding increases classroom discipline issues. Large classes packed with students provide more opportunities for personality conflicts, tension, and general disruptive behaviour. Even the best teachers find it difficult to manage an overcrowded classroom successfully and can find themselves spending more time managing their classroom than they do teaching.’’
Interestingly, the Niger State Government is familiar with and appreciates the issue of inadequate facilities in the general school system which critics say calls for declaration of a state of emergency with a view to making conform to global best practices.
In a historical overview of the situation the state’s Transforming Education in Niger State (TENS) Programme, Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Minna the state capital
enunciated that , ‘‘the problems facing the Niger State Educational system are immense, but are not insurmountable. It will take considerable commitment, effort and the involvement of all if the current situation is to be addressed. The problems associated with the education system at all levels can be attributed to many factors which have not been properly addressed over the years. It will therefore take time to resolve the numerous dimensions of this very complex situation in the educational system.’’
Information gathered from the TENS Programme also indicated that, ‘‘during the last administration, Niger state’s attempt to address the problems within the education system were guided by a number of policies and documents. These included:The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); National and States Education for All (EFA) Plans; National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS); Niger State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NSEEDS).
The main objectives of the Niger State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NSEEDS) was to strengthen the existing development strategies and plans by identifying priorities that would lead to growth promotion and the reduction of poverty (SESP, 2008)
‘‘However, Niger state missed the Education for All goals of achieving gender parity at primary and secondary school education levels by 2012. It also missed the achievements of the EF goal and the millennium development goals.
‘‘A 10 year State Education Sector Plan (SESP) and a shorter 3 – year State Education Sector Operational Plan (SESOP) was developed as tools by the last administration to aid the education reform on the basis of a sector-wide analysis. The main thrusts of these documents were as follows: Ensuring planned development of education; Taking a long-term and holistic view of the sector; Aligning educational development more intimately with other sectors of development; Focusing on strategic challenge areas of educational development; Prioritising high impact areas
-Engaging stakeholders in policy dialogues and ensuring the ownership of education development endeavours; Channelling resources to areas of greatest need building capacity for effective and efficient service delivery.
According to the information gathered from the Transforming Education in Niger State Programme ‘‘Unfortunately, the proposed changes to the education system these plans sought to achieve were not realized’’.
The Niger State Education Strategic Plan (SEPS) covers the period 2009 – 2018 with the following policy objectives:Policy Objective 1: Improving access and expanding opportunities;Policy Objective 2: Assuring quality and relevance of education provision
Policy Objective 3: Improving educational planning and management; Policy Objective 4: Assuring sustainable funding and improved financial management.
Little has been achieved in implementing these policy objectives for a number of reasons mainly attributed to the inadequate provision of financial resources.
Sadly, in this vein boarding
students of Suleman Barau Technical College (SBTC) and Government
Secondary School (GSS) all in Suleja, headquarters of Suleja Local Government
Area and the economic nerve centre of Niger State will resume in September to
continue schooling and stay in environment that makes them objects of
pity.
However, in what looks like an
approach to redeem its battered image in the educational sector,
Newsdiaryonline findings revealed the state government recently renovated the
Government Science College, Izom, to make teaching and learning
conducive.
Besides, the quality of food served to hostel students in the school is far better than what their counterparts in SBTC Suleja and GSS Suleja.
Many are hoping that the good tidings will be extended to SBTC and GSS both in Suleja.
