It is a new dawn for pupils as the Enugu State government restructures public schools, reports SUNDAY OGUNTOLA, who toured institutions in some of the state’s local governments
On the first day of resumption, 14-year-old Amarachi Eze ran into the school premises panting. She was running late for the morning assembly. But she ran out almost immediately, distraught she was in a wrong school. The environment looked too clean to be the one she left behind weeks ago. The long grasses were gone; the lawn was immaculately cut. The football pitch was unrecognisable.
This cannot be my school, she muttered under her breath. Her last classroom was no longer there. A new, sparkling structure of five classrooms with impressive roofing sheet stood before her. She was half-way through the exit gate when a teacher demanded where she was running to.
“I missed my way, Sir,” she said. It took the smiling teacher almost two minutes to assure Amarachi she had indeed resumed in the same school she had attended for two years. What she was seeing, the teacher told her, was a complete overhaul of the school’s infrastructure by the Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ENUSUBEB).
Facelift
Girls Secondary School, Achi, which Eze attends with hundred others, typifies remarkable turnarounds that ENUSUBEB is recording in public schools. Some two years ago, the school was completely wrecked. Nothing worked again with the fast deteriorating facilities of the school.
Chukwu Bernard, the principal of the JSS section of the school, told our correspondent: “All the buildings were nothing to write home about. There were cracks everywhere; some were even about collapsing. The roofs were leaking too. As a result, class activities were also disturbed during rainy seasons. In most cases, we even had to send the children back home because of the leaking roof. That was how bad things were here before.”
In such atmosphere, learning was everything but smooth. The teachers grumbled while the students suffered in silence. But then ENUSUBEB stepped in. In less than three months, the agency succeeded in completely renovating five classrooms. Bernard loves to describe the intervention as a complete facelift.
“The classrooms were renovated while the roofs were fixed with new sheet. Today, when it rains, we don’t even stop teaching. Class activities continue notwithstanding. The students are happy and learning faster than before. It all looks like a miracle but this school has been completely turned around,” he added.
As it is in Achi, so it is in Independent Layout Primary School, Enugu. The school only boasted of four classrooms with decrepit toilets. Pupils were afraid to use the facility for excretion. So, they defecated in a nearby bush and urinated everywhere else. The entire environment was messy, making pupils and teachers vulnerable to diseases.
ENUSUBEB’s intervention has since increased the number of classrooms available in the school. According to the Head Teacher, Mrs. Onah Ngozi, the fortunes of the school have changed for the best.
“Before now, we had only four classrooms. Our toilets were bad and abandoned. But we have been impressed by the quality of projects in the school. The projects are beneficial to the students and teachers. We now have better and conducive learning environment. We have enough space for teachers. It is easier now to impart knowledge and the pupils are learning faster. Since the toilets were renovated, we have a healthy and hygienic environment,” she stated.
The Vice Principal of the nearby Government School in Independent Layout Enugu, Mrs. Okoli Chinelo, is equally impressed by the turnarounds in her school. She said: “We appreciate what has been done here. We have better toilet environment, especially with the increase in teachers and students. Things were not like this before but the projects have delivered quality environment for better learning and teaching.”
Projects, projects and projects
Such turnaround stories have been recorded across the 17 local government areas of the state. In less than two years since the current leadership of the agency came on board, 488 projects have been executed. This is in stark contrast to the 515 projects carried out in 15 years under previous administrations.
Checks revealed that the projects are spread across the local governments in such a way that the entire state is covered. Aninri has 28; Awgu 28; Enugu East 37; Enugu North 24; Enugu South 33; Ezeagu 25; Igbo Etiti 28; Igbo Eze North 33; Igbo Eze South 7; Isi Uzo 14; Nkanu East 11; Nkanu West 27; Nsukka 31; Oji River 22; Udenu 31; Udi 60; Uzo Uwani 21. 80 percent of them have been completed in less than two years.
The image maker of the agency, Mrs. Eberechukwu Nnaji, told our correspondent that the idea is to spread the projects so that many rural dwellers and children in Enugu will benefit from them. “For us, it is about service delivery and access to basic education by every child of school age in Enugu. We believe that environment goes a long way in teaching and learning. So, we are focused on making sure that the students and teachers feel comfortable so that the learning process can be effective and yield the desired results,” she explained.
Our correspondent observed the roofs of the schools have what experts call multi-tiles. Nnaji explained that the schools’ roofing projects utilised Emenite Multi-tiles roof, a new technology in the industry. This, she said, was adopted because of its excellent acoustic properties, resistance to fire, termite, pest attack and rot, water resistance, impact resistance, rust proof and good thermal property.
Beyond projects
ENUSUBEB is not all about hardware in terms of construction of school facilities and provision of furniture. The board is doing much more in the areas of capacity training of teachers and school administrators. Since 2014, over 10,000 teachers in the schools have enjoyed one training programme or the other.
For example, head and class teachers in Primary 1, 2 and 3 receive training in leadership, literacy and numeracy every term. Charles Nwoye, who participated in some of the programmes, said his teaching has taken a leap. “There were several things I didn’t know before that I now do. I believe I am a better teacher now. My students are also posting better results. Everything changed for me the day I started receiving free training from ENUSUBEB,” he said.
No fewer than 596 school communities have also established functional School Based Management Committees (SBMC) following strategic trainings. The concept integrates communities into school management, ensuring proper protection of school facilities and voluntary supports.
Through the initiative, the chairman of Udi local government, Hon. Chinedu Iloeje, built a six-classroom block with toilet and overhead water tanks in six communities. In response to SBMC’s request for assistance, Nigerian Breweries Plc also built three classroom blocks with head teacher’s office and libraries in Community Primary School (CPS) Nsude; CPS Ngwo-uno; CPS Awhum and Central School, Eke.
Pupils of Central School Eke and Community Primary School Oma-eke are also enjoying the meal programme supervised by SBMC with sponsorship by Nigerian Breweries and Pan African Community Initiative on Education and Health (PACIEH), a nongovernmental organisation.
There is also the training of 48 specialists in quality assurance by the agency to improve on supervision of schools. The quality evaluators consider critical aspects such as achievements and standard; learners’ skills and participation; teaching and learning; curriculum and other activities; care guidance and support; the learning environment and effective leadership and management in schools. So far, 91 schools in Udi and 40 in Nsukka have been quality assured. To assure all the public schools, plans are on to train all head teachers on quality assurance self evaluation.
Unlike many states, ENUSUBEB has ensured regular and prompt payment of teachers’ salaries. Teachers, who spoke with our correspondent, confirmed that they receive their salaries, at worst, the first week of every month. This, they said, motivates their delivery and gives them something to cheer about.
To fight ghost teachers and rid the service of unqualified teachers, the agency has also carried out staff biometrics. The exercise exposed over 1,000 teachers with altered birth dates; those with suspicious certificates; suspected impersonators; and those due for retirement. The staff audit has also revealed the precise number of teachers needed to cover public schools in the state.
Praising ENUSUBEB for its many strides, the chairman of Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) Enugu wing, Comrade Ozo Nnaji (JP) said teachers have never had it this good in the state. He hailed the biometric exercise, saying it has led to proper identification of serving teachers and discovery of those with falsified certificates.
According to him, the exercise has also helped to identify those deserving of promotion, leading to cases of rapid promotion. Nnaji also the massive capacity building of teachers was commendable just as the renovation of schools across the state was unequalled.
He said: “I am happy because teachers in the state have been well looked after. Things have never been this good for us. We receive our salaries promptly. The agency has cleared all outstanding promotion and leave allowance arrears. This has given us confidence and assured that we are indeed considered important.
“I am equally elated that the Teachers Enhancement Arrears (TEA) has been completely paid from 10 percent to 27.5 percent. There is also the N25, 000 running cost support for Primary Head Teachers across the states. We are glad that we have an agency that has our back and are poised to continue contribution to youth empowerment through effective impartation of knowledge.”
