The experience of primary schools head teachers compared to secondary schools principals in managing their schools in a COVID-impacted period is like comparing Israel-Occupied Goshen to Egypt while the biblical plagues lasted. KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE reports on how head teachers stretch their meagre N20,000 running cost each month.
” Did you see my generator?” Mrs. Bukola Famutimi pointed proudly to a generator at one end of the long corridor of the first floor of her school building. But that was the only thing she seemed happy about when talking about how she runs the Anwar-U-Islam Primary School, Ogba Road, Agege, in keeping with COVID-19 safety protocols.
The generator is important. Without it she cannot pump water from the school’s borehole as its power supply had been cut off because of a debt of over N50,000. Without pumping water, the school would be lacking a key requirement to safeguard against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS COV-2) which causes COVID-19.
If funding did not matter before to public schools, it assumed new importance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hygiene, distancing and personal protective equipment are needed to prevent the spread of the virus. However, it is challenging getting and maintaining them in public schools because of lack of infrastructure and high pupil-population.
In Lagos State, prior to resumption of schools in August (for SS3 pupils taking public examinations) and later in September and October for other classes, there was palpable concern about how public schools would safely resume when many lacked running water, toilets, adequate classrooms and furniture, among others.
According to the Self-Assessment and Safety Checklist for Reopening of Schools published by the Office of Education Quality Assurance (OEQA), Lagos State Ministry of Education (downloaded from https://oeqalagos.com/schools-reopening-process/), availability of running water and soap, hand sanitizers, toilets monitored by janitors, classrooms arranged according to social distancing spacing of 1.5 metres, among others, are part of the safety standard infractructure for public and private schools.
While the Lagos State Government attended to emergency infrastructural needs of its 1,016 primary and 676 secondary schools through the Ministry of Education (for secondary schools) and the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB for primary schools), school managers were given funds to manage the day-to-day running of their schools.
However, The Nation found that the disparity between funds disbursed to primary and secondary schools affected how well these managers were able to follow the stringent COVID-19 protocols. While secondary school principals, which had their running cost increased from N50,000 (for junior secondary schools) or N100,000 (for senior secondary schools) to N250,000 got paid a lump sum of the backlog (from March to August when schools were shut) to prepare for COVID-19 resumption, primary school head teachers got only N50,000 to put their schools in order ahead of resumption in October. Before schools closed for the first term holidays last Friday, they had only received N20,000 more as monthly running cost.
Head teachers who spoke to The Nation about the challenges in running their schools in the COVID-19 era said they spent more than the N50,000 they got from SUBEB to clean their schools, cut grass and do minor repairs.
Mrs. Famutimi said she spent more than twice the amount ahead of resumption.
“After sometime, they (SUBEB) gave us N50,000 after we had spent almost N120,000 cutting the grass and buying other things. The money was not enough but we thank God,” she said.
Head Teacher of St Agnes Primary School, Maryland, Comrade Felix Orisaheyi, said he also spent over N100,000 cutting the grass and fixing the school’s overhead tank – this was apart from the loss he suffered as a result of vandalised and stolen equipment from his office and the school during the long closure.
He said: “For the past six months now, we have not had anything like running cost. As big as this school is, the running cost I met here was N20,000 and that N20,000 would not come until four or five months in arrears. They don’t pay in bulk. For the past six months, we have not had any running cost.
“The NUT, during resumption, pressurised the government and it decided to give something for resumption. They gave N50,000 to each primary school for resumption. I used it to complement the money I spent. I spent over N100,000 and I was given N50,000.
“On the pre-resumption day, when the chairman came here, our tank almost fell off, so we had to buy either iron or plank. I took the chairman to check it and called the plumber. The plumber said to put the tank back with wood and some other things would cost up to N45,000 to N50,000 . He said I should not buy iron but water wood; that I would be paid some money from which I could carry out the project . When the money came, we were to cut the grass. We invited somebody to cut the grass and he demanded N50,000 but we could not pay the amount. The gutter was also filled up and blocked. To pack the gutter, they demanded N40,000.”
Head Teacher of Oluwole Primary School, Akoka (names withheld) said she was able to manage the N50,000 she got to put her school in order ahead of resumption. She said she used the funds for minor repairs and cleaning the environment.
“I was able to manage the money to do some repairs and clean the compound,” she told this reporter at the school.
She said the N20,000 running cost for November was paid a day before this reporter visited on December 8, 2020. She however said the money was barely enough to cover the cost of running the school.
Like her counterpart at Anwar-Ul-Islam, the Oluwole Primary School head teacher said her school depended on generators for power because it been cut off because of a power bill of N178,000.
“We are owing N178,000 electricity bill. We were cut off since September last year. Who is going to pay the money? Since then, we have been running generator. The government is renovating the school and doing the wiring but when they finished it, where is the light? Why must they bill us? Is it not a govenremnt school? They should help us. We really need light to pump water,” she said.
In the absence of power, the head teacher said she spentds N1,000 buying fuel for the generator almost daily. She also has to spend money on repairs and other cost.
“We buy fuel of at least N1,000 or N500 every day. We pump water almost every day. I spend my salary. I repaired the generator last week for N1,500. When we wanted to pump water recently, the rope (for the generator) got cut. I had to buy another one,” she said.
Mrs. Famutimi also said she spends her salary running the school. She said though about N20,000 out of the school’s N80,000 electricity bill was paid by the Parent’s Forum, there was no hope of raising the money from anywhere.
“We have borehole. We don’t have light. We have to buy petrol for the generator to pump water and we pump water every two days. When I got here, the school owed eighty something thousand naira. That was last year. The parents tried; they settled part of the bill – maybe twenty something thousand naira. They (IKEDC) now sent me a message to come and paythe remaining part of the bill. Where is the money? The parents can barely feed; majority are suffering. Imagine! Little children cannot enjoy light,” she said.
Head teacher of Akoka Primary School, Akoka, was not around when The Nation visited. However, the Assistant Head Teacher, Mrs. Sarah Onikeku, confirmed that the school had no light. She said it had its own borehole independent of that of Oluwole Primary School with which it shares premises. She said she had no information about the electricity bill being owed.
“We follow the safety protocol. We have hand washing stations on each floor. We have two wash hand basins on each floor. We have a borehole; we have a generator we use to pump water. We pump twice a week at least. The Parents Forum tried to help us with the bill but that has been long. Electricity will make a difference. If we have electricity the children will learn better,” she said.
St Agnes Primary School has a prepaid metre. But Orisaheyi said the school did not have electricity because they could not afford the N3,000 to load the electricity card weekly. He said his office and a part of the school enjoys power tapped from SUBEB which has some of its offices within the school’s compound.
I’m only managing light from SUBEB office. They ran their line down from their two offices. The former chairman gave me light so that I can be using it to operate my office. There is no light in the building apart from SUBEB offices and my office.
“When I got here on April 9, 2018, I did not meet power. There was a time the school was trying to use prepaid metre but within four days they will spent over N3,000 for prepaid. The funding is too expensive; nobody is sponsoring us,” he said.
With bulk money at their disposal, public secondary school managers were able to do much more than their primary school counterparts.
When SS3 pupils resumed in August, Principal of Ilupeju Senior Grammar School, Ilupeju, who did not wish to be named, said the government “over prepared for resumption”.
The principal said the school had made adequate provision for hand washing and sanitation – with six newly-constructed sinks by the side of one of the school’s buildings. All the taps were running, and each sink had a bottle of soap for hand washing.
He also said two more toilets were built for the pupils. The toilets are manned by a sanitation manager who sits at the entrance.
However, by November, when this reporter visited the school, there was no bottle of soap on any of the sinks. This was not the case at Gbagada Junior Comprehensive High School, Gbagada, where practically all the 11 handwashing stations by the gate had bottles of soap.
Its Principal, Mrs. Ovinuyon Buhari, says the school adheres strictly to the COVID-19 protocols to the extent of ensuring the pupils take breaks to wash their hands.
“We have staggered attendance so they don’t come in together at the same time. We have different days for JSS one and JSS two. So when they come in we have 11 washing stations at the entrance and we have 20 washing stations inside. Their temperature is taken, we have safety officers and the security man has also been trained to check temperature. Once their temperature qualifies them to come in, they come into the school. If we have high temperature, we call parents to take them home.
“During break, they have hand washing period. On the corridors of their classrooms, they have buckets of water with soap and sanitizer so they do hand washing frequently. When they go for break, at the food vendors shed, they also wash their hands,” she said.
With large classes, Mrs. Ovinuyon said the pupils were able to maintain physical distancing adequately.
“The classrooms are very big so we maintain the distance of 1.5 meters in the sitting arrangements. It depends on the class coming in. When it was JSS 3 only, we had 25 students and all of them spread out. The JSS 1 students are more so we can have up to 50 in a class but they are still widely spaced. The classrooms are big enough to accommodate them,” she said.
Mrs. Ovinuyon said her school was able to maintain a high standard of hygiene because it had the funds to do so.
“We also provided personal protective equipment; we have face masks; we have isolation centre; we have sick bay. We have other disinfecting safety equipment in the school. I have sanitation managers for every floor. That is the only way I can maintain toilets. We have 50 toilets in the school with water running in them and they are all clean. They (sanitation managers) guide the children when they come to use the toilet and make sure they use the toilets properly. The toilets have water and soap.
“The toilets were not this functional when I got here so out of the running cost we used to do plumping work, fixed the generator. We have three generators – one is dedicated for water and one is in the ICT room for the children’s training; then I have one that runs in the office,” she added.
Apart from meeting the COVID-19 protocols, Mrs. Ovinuyon said the school catered for home-learning needs on days some of the over 2,000 pupils did not come to school because of staggered classes.
‘’Sometimes, we have to give the students work to take home when they are not in school, so we are able to do photocopies. I have photocopier in the school so we can share their work with them. We also use data because we do online classes. As they don’t come every day, when they are not in school they will be at home doing online classes,” she said.
Mrs. Ovinuyon said the increased running cost helped the school to run more effectively.
“The running cost made a whole lot of difference. It is not comparable because the difference is so much. We can do a lot more now and it is with monitoring because if you just give account of the money and you don’t monitor, you know money can go in different ways,” she said.
Principal of Oriwu Junior Model College, Ikorodu, Mrs. Folasade Alimi, said keeping COVID-19 protocol was also easier in her boarding school thanks to increased funding.
She said: “When you get to my school from the gate you cannot enter without your face mask and we have a set of water closets to wash your hands and the nurse is on ground to check your temperature and ensure you put on a face mask. The Lagos State government provided all the equipment to curb COVID -19. Yes they have increased the running cost and we are earning a lot of money at the end of the month. I am not praising them but the government is trying.
“The funds allocated to my school were used for repairs, such as broken furniture; now we have eight boreholes in my school so we can get water for the daily activities; a big generator and small generators and also inverter provided by the Lagos State government work 24/7. So we have everything necessary. “Power supply is not regular and that is normal. They didn’t cut our school light; the light is not just regular. We use to have light from 8am to 4pm; from 4pm to 7pm there we either put on the generator or inverter. The inverter is there from 6pm-8pm in the evening so the children will use it for their prep class. In the night the inverter is off and NEPA will bring light – that is how we do it.”
Unhappy about the situation in primary schools, Orisaheyi is seeking equity in the disbursement of funds between primary and secondary schools.
He said: “Secondary school principals are our colleagues. We have the same certificate; we control the same population of pupils. They are collecting running cost of N250,000 in the same community and society we belong to as stakeholders, whereas primary schools that is known as the bedrock of education, the solid rock that others will be mounted on is collecting N20,000 as running cost.”
Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Lagos Wing, Comrade Adedoyin Adesina urged the Lagos State government to make amends.
“If it is decentralised, and head teachers are given that responsibility the way secondary schools have done theirs, I think it will be better.
“The bulk money was not given to the primary schools but was given to the secondary schools. It is money they use to set up the washing hand basins that is fixed at strategic places, toilets and all those things. They are fantastic. So it shows that if money is entrusted in the hands of the school administrators, they will do better.
Responding to questions on supplying primary schools with sanitary products, Chairman of Lagos SUBEB, Mr. Wahab Alawiye-King, said primary schools were supplied with sanitary supplies based on need.
“It depends on the on the number of schools per Local Government Education Authority. It is based on that data that we have supplied them. The term has just ended, we are preparing for another set of sanitary materials to be given to them and we are currently working on that,” he said.
He also said the Board monitors COVID-19 compliance in schools.
“We have our basic education quality assurance officers that go around and monitor; guidance and counseling unit also monitor what is happening in our schools. So it is a multi-layered supervisory and monitoring aspect of the programme.
Regarding the meagre running cost, Alawiye-King said the board was aware of the challenges head teachers faced running schools with minimal funds and was already working with the government to propose an increment.
“We are also working in that direction. A proposal has been made to the House of Assembly.
They are working with us to make sure that the running cost to all our schools is increased to ensure that so many areas are covered. The state government also gave us some special funds when we were about to resume and we distributed it across all the schools in the state.
“We are also aware of some of the challenges you raised and that is why I said we are working with the House of Assembly to ensure that the running cost to schools is increased,” he said.
He was however silent on how much the more primary schools would be getting.
“That is supposed to be an internal thing until it is approved, so I can’t divulge such information,” he added.
