Where do you work? Answering this question as a teacher working in a run-down school could be traumatic. I have interacted with many teachers who said dilapidation of facilities in their schools was a morale dampener.
I have gone for the inauguration of many public schools after their rehabilitation either by government or private sector and I know the feelings of genuine joy of the teachers and learners about a change in environment. Who said environment does not matter? It does. Yes, I know many have argued that quality teaching and learning can take place under a tree, but sustained quality teaching and learning every school day of the school year would happen better in a conducive environment than in a place where leaky roofs mean that school work ends once the rains start.
On May 27 last year, I was at the Local Government Nursery and Primary School, Jagunna, Itori in Ewekoro, Ogun State, when Oando Foundation visited to present play equipment to the school. The pupils, and their teachers, were ecstatic. The teachers shared with us how the Foundation gave them hope again when it stepped in to build classroom blocks to replace the poultry pen they were using before. Under the pen, inclement weather meant no school because the roof was not good. They were also in danger of being beaten by big snakes attracted to the area by the poultry. The teachers once regarded deployment to the school as punishment and were not happy. But all that changed when the school got buildings and equipment from Oando Foundation; and then Dangote, and then Lafarge.
During Rotimi Amaechi’s tenure as Rivers State governor, he embarked on an ambitious project – building fantastic school structures for public schools. The day I entered one of the schools located in Elekahia, Port Harcourt, I literally became cured of a fever that I had from the day before. I was screaming! I could not believe I was in a public school. The school had a nice building, classrooms with good quality furniture, beautiful classrooms, a basketball court, football pitch, and – the one that blew me away, a beautiful hall with cozy blue foldable seats for events. The facilities could compete with that any elite private school that charges premium fees. I had to ask one of the teachers how she felt working in such environment, especially as it was a public school. Her story inspired one of most memorable stories I have written in my journalism career. She told me of how the school was a dump before – how they had to clean classrooms of faeces before they could teach each day; how the lowest day for her was when she touched excreta that had been dumped in her drawer when she put her hand to pick her pen. To think that that same school could be transformed such that when I met her, she was working on the computer was almost unimaginable for her.
This is a call to our government both state and federal, to do the needful to make every public school one that teachers and pupils would be happy to come to every day. If Amaechi could achieve it back then, it is possible today. Government only needs to commit more funds that would be judiciously spent on education. This can happen if it blocks loopholes elsewhere. Enhancing the school environment can go a long way to boost teachers’ morale and productivity, and attract the best brains to schools. If governors, director-generals, CEOs, chairmen of boards, ministers, senators, and the President deserve to work in beautiful offices, teachers too, who are saddled with the onerous task of preparing our future leaders, deserve same.
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