As the war against the deadly Boko Haram terrorist insurgency approaches its end, expectations from the people traumatised by this irrational and cockamamie war is now sharply focused, among others, on the Presidential Committee on the Northeast Initiative (PCNI), for the rehabilitation of the millions of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the reconstruction of their destroyed schools, hospitals, homes, markets, bridges, roads and other infrastructure. The insane insurgency has affected most parts of the North-east, especially northern parts of Borno and Yobe states, that have long been in decline in many indices of human development, and areas bordering the dreaded Sambisa forest. The condition of the towns and villages, even prior to the insurgency, were not the best of models. There was very low enrolment of children to formal schools. Agriculture was medieval. The implementation of any multibillion naira intervention project, complementary to the overwhelming efforts of the state governments, such as those by the Presidential Committee of the Northeast Initiative, PCNI, may have to consider revolutionary plans to reposition such towns and villages for sustainable modern development, peace and progress.
Members of the PCNI are carefully chosen and well known men and women of proven integrity, who have excelled in their careers. They would not award contracts, as is the practise these days, without strenuous scrutiny for selfish reasons.
Whilst there were enough schools and even basic facilities across most of the places affected, these were never fully occupied even before the lunacy started and got worse to this astonishing level. Enrolment is now at its lowest ebb and classes in most schools in the hard hit areas barely have children. Most of the children are involved in farming and hawking for survival, as well attending the madrassas but they hardly go to formal schools even when registered in the records.
More than the rebuilding of infrastructure, the committee has to set aside special allocation, under a dedicated subcommittee to facilitate the enrolment of all children in those areas where going to school is a weighty issue. Incidentally, those areas are usually the poverty-stricken areas, where the insurgency thrived and grew like wild fire. Studies have shown that the problems are multifaceted. Heads of traditional institutions in those areas, who use to monitor the progress of the teachers and students and were involved in enrolment of their villages children, and who gave advice before the holidays are pronounced, no longer relate with the schools like before. Even the local government officials, such as the education secretaries, are not dedicated as they use to be.
Other serious challenges facing primary education in the zone include shortage of committed, qualified brilliant teachers. The few who do get trained at the teachers’ training colleges are mostly those who could not make it to the universities. If Nigerian students have their way, no college of education or polytechnic would get students to train! Ironically the same teachers go ahead to teach the future doctors, lawyers and pharmacists. Whilst in some countries such as Turkey, education courses are only offered to the best students, those with the highest scores in the qualifying examinations. In Nigeria, students go for courses that may guarantee them very good remunerations! The first choices for those with highest scores in JAMB are for courses like medicine, law, engineering, pharmacy, accountancy and architecture, and hardly ever education.
One of the fastest ways to implement effective and near total enrolment is to involve the traditional rulers, especially in the North-east. Our traditional rulers know members of every family of their domain. Providing free breakfast in the schools has also been suggested, especially in the hardest hit, poverty endemic regions, but this may not be sustainable in the present economic circumstance. Another factor that militates against effective primary schooling in the zone is the lack of serious commitment by those who have benefited from the system, the old boys or educated elite from the areas.
When therefore the PCNI sets out to rebuild the classes and other infrastructure in all those places that the insurgents have destroyed, in the long run, less than half of the key problems are permanently set to be resolved.
The PCNI may also consider injecting fresh new approaches to the reconstruction of destroyed classrooms. In this 21st century, the concept for the construction of classrooms remains the same, except for roofing materials that have undergone some transformations from zinc roof, still used in some state schools, to aluminium roofing sheets and now stone coated roofing materials, pre-colonial blackboard still remains the same. In some cases, these were made with concrete, making them difficult for the teachers to write on and the students to see well. A few school heads now include modern cardboards in project designs. In many developing and even less endowed countries basic interactive boards are in now vogue. They expose their children to modern facilities from primary one! Different categories of these boards abound depending on the budget and level of the class.
Research designs conducted by our architects are never tried to redesign our classroom concepts to make them safer, more comfortable and even cheaper to build and maintain at all times.
The PCNI may also consider provision of solar energy for all infrastructure in the areas covered for rehabilitation in their plan. This, if done properly, lasts longer and provides power to supply water and light classrooms for studies in the evenings. There are also cheap and rugged laptops for use by primary school pupils that have been tested and found to be of immense importance. PCNI may reduce the scope of their mandate but they should please not just plaster and repaint those burnt classes with all those billions. Nigerians expect excellent work, that is similar, if not better than the defunct PTF projects executed by our amiable President.
- Prof Geidam writes from Maiduguri, Borno State.
