The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Public Schools

  • Oyo refutes claim of planning to sell off public schools

    Oyo refutes claim of planning to sell off public schools

    ‎Oyo State Government has refuted claims and allegation that it intends to privatise public schools in the state but rather said the initiative is to go into Public Private Partnership and return some public schools to its original owners.

    The Special Adviser to the Governor on Communication and Strategy, Yomi Layinka stated this on Tuesday while addressing journalist at the press centre, Ibadan.

    According to him, the decision of the state government followed over 40 years appeal from missionaries and communities that their schools should be return back to them.

    The Special Adviser noted that not all schools will be ceded in the process, but schools would be ceded based on certain criteria, adding that the decision was in the interest of promoting qualitative education in the state.

    Layinka who was accompanied by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mrs Ronke Makanjuola, and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information, Mr Bashiru Olarewaju, said only about 30 schools will be ceded out of the 631 secondary schools in the state.

    “The issue of return of schools has Ben a recurring issue since 1975 when schools were taking over by government from missionaries and private individuals for best reasons known to them. Governor Ajimobi administration has deem it ft to respond positively to their request and has started the process of returning back the schools as far as it is for public interest especially for proper management and sustenance of such schools.

    “It will create energy and resources to manage the schools properly. It is a concept of PPP which is operated globally. We have advertised for an expression of interest from stakeholders interested to pick up the form. There will be clearly stated agreement to be meeting before an MOU will be signed,” Layinka said

    Reeling out the consideration for the ceding of the schools to stakeholders, he said:” Spread of government secondary schools in the area, total population of students in the area, evidence of previous experience in school administration, evidence of means of financial and management capability to operate the school successfully on their return”

    He said government will ensure that stakeholders comply with open administration policy, adherence to government policy in state, regular inspections to ensure quality assurance.

    Layinka also explained that no teachers will be retrenched during the process, but has the option of staying in their schools with their new employers or staying in government employment.

    He went further that:” No student in any of the affected schools that is from JSS II to SS III will be liable to payment of school fees. Existing primary schools in the premises of some of the secondary schools affected will not be interfered with at this stage.”

     

  • Lagos bans social functions in public schools

    Lagos bans social functions in public schools

    •e-tablets coming for pupils

    LAGOS State yesterday banned the holding of parties and other social functions in public schools.

    It also directed proprietors of private schools to comply with rules or face sanctions.

    Deputy Governor Dr Idiat Adebule told reporters that Governor Akinwunmi Ambode has directed that schools should no longer be used for social functions.

    Adebule said: “The governor has directed that schools will no longer be used for social activities any longer. We want to implore members of the public to report any school that violates this directive and we would ensure that defaulting schools are sanctioned accordingly.”

    She said the state was beaming a searchlight on the standard of education in private schools, adding that it will no longer be business as usual for those that undermine best practices.

    Adebule said the government would engage private school owners and proprietors to intimate them on the present administration’s plan for improving education.

    “Much as private schools are partners in the sector, we would not fold our hands and watch the standard flop. Some schools even operate without registering with the government. We want to urge such schools to do the right thing or government will have no choice but to do what it has to do,” she said.

    Earlier, Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Obafela Bank-Olemoh said the government would construct the biggest digital library.

    He said the government was at the planning stage of the library, adding that the actual establishment of the project would begin in the next quarter of the year.

    Bank-Olemoh said the government would build 10 new model schools with state-of-the-art facilities, and two new technical colleges built in areas where such facilities are needed.

    Bank-Olemoh said 324,000 e-tablets would be given to Senior Secondary School pupils, adding that plans have been concluded to register pupils in public and private schools under the Lagos State Student Personal Administration Number (LASPIN) project to aid proper planning.

    On the free meal in schools project, he said, the government is currently perfecting the framework for its take off, noting that the project is expected to enhance the learning capacity of the pupils and also boost the state’s economy.

     

  • Lagos public schools shine in chemistry contest

    Lagos public schools shine in chemistry contest

    Though a private school lifted this year’s PZ Cussons Chemistry Challenge (PZCCC) trophy last weekend, it was a good outing for Lagos State public schools as two of its pupils emerged second and third.

    The two pupils were from the same school, Abibatu Mogaji Millennium Secondary School in Iloro, Agege.

    Two other public school pupils, Eze Emeka Loveday of Cardoso Senior High School, Ajegunle, and Mohammed Mubarak of Sanngo Senior Secondary School, Agege, were among the top 10 finalists bringing the total to four public schools in the final of the competition.

    This is the first time in the history of the three-year-old competition that public schools would be among the top three.  Last year, Jeremiah Onu of FESTAC Senior College came fourth.

    For earning a perfect score of 60 per cent in the quiz segment; and 28.8 (out of 40) in the practical, Ekene Ike-Okoro took the star prize of N700,000, a laptop and gold medal. His teacher smiled home with N100,000, while his school, Topgrade Secondary School, Surulere, got N100,000 worth of Chemistry textbooks.

    Second placed, Wajul Kareem of Abibatu Mogaji Senior Secondary School, Agege, who scored 45 points in Quiz and 30.4 in practical, got N500,000, a laptop and silver medal; while third placed Joseph Samuel from the same school, got N400,000, a laptop and bronze medal.

    Their school got N150,000 worth of chemistry texts, courtesy of both pupils.

    Their Chemistry teacher, Joseph Odusanya, a national finalist for the Maltina Teacher of the Year award, also won N150,000 for producing both winners.

    Director-General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mrs Ronke Soyombo, said she was delighted at the pupils’ performance, which she described as a testament that public schools are improving.

    “It tells the whole community that we should not just linger on what is not good about Lagos State schools.  We should look at what is good.  Our children are doing extremely well; our children are making us proud,” she said.

    She added that the performance was a demonstration of the state’s policies that all schools, irrespective of status, should offer quality education.

    “What we are looking in Lagos State is not just for schools to become highbrow schools but to give good teaching and learning,” she said.

    On his part, Odusanya said that he picked up the challenge to prepare pupils to excel in the competition since last year.

    “We had a plan last year that we wanted to win PZCCC.  I took the courage upon me because I have been winning project exhibition and I asked myself what happened that we don’t win in written examination.  I thought, if I am to win, the children must be very good; then I went on planning since last year.  Even the boy that came third is in SS2.  I started grooming and testing them until I picked my best two and my best really paved way for me,” he said.

    Fourth placed Chineke Nnaemeka Jude of Great Esteem Secondary School, Surulere, was rewarded with N400,000.  His teacher got N60,000; while his school got N60,000 worth of chemistry books.

    The remaining six finalists were rewarded with N50,000 each.

     

  • Boko Haram: Borno public schools reopen one year after

    Boko Haram: Borno public schools reopen one year after

    Over 2,500 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and families  currently accommodated  in  public schools in Maiduguri are to be relocated  to a new camp  to enable the reopening of schools shut down over a year ago following incessant attack by  the Boko Haram fundamentalist sect.

    The new camp is sponsored  by  the   United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in partnership with  the Borno state government.

    It   is expected  to be completed within two weeks.

    The UNHCR Field/Protection Officer in Borno state, Mohammed Tejan-Cole, said at the  launch of the new camp structure in Maiduguri  that the camp will  have   toilets, boreholes and  health facility.

    He said: “After this high powered committee of the Borno State government has completed its relocation and resettlement strategies of IDPs living in public schools, the Bakasi camp was extended for the construction of 2, 500 family shelters.

    “In the first phase, 1,250 shelter units are to be built by local engineers on ground, while the remaining 1,250 are to be completed during the second phase of massive relocations and re-settlements of these displaced persons currently living in some of the secondary and primary schools in Maiduguri.

    “This committee has been assured that all the displaced persons taking refuge in public schools are to be relocated and resettled in these family shelters to enable government re-open schools this month.”

    Also speaking, the UNICEF representative in the state, Dr Franck Ndaie,  said steps have being taken to forestall  all forms of diseases in the camp.

    “With the relocations of displaced persons in primary and secondary schools camps of Maiduguri, UNICEF is to build 150 toilets, sinking of boreholes and the provision of health care centres, including the security of IDPs. Each block of the family shelter units will also have 28 classrooms, so that children of IDPs return to school this month.”

     

  • Facelift for Enugu public schools

    Facelift for Enugu public schools

    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.”

  • Monarch seeks more infrastructure for public schools

    The Olota of Ota HRH  Moshood Fehintola,  has called called on the Ogun State governor to up its infrastrurural drive in the state.

    He spoke at the presentation of over 200 lockers and chairs by the Nigerian Red Cross, Ogun State, to Ansar-Ud- Deen Practicing School, Ota, and Local Government School 1V, Sango-Ota.

    The presentation was funded by  the American People through the Ambassadorial Special Self-Help Project (SSHP) 2014/2015 grant window.

    The event pooled together pupils, teachers, parents, principals of the two schools, and other stakeholders. According to the monarch, education in public schools, has fallen below standard and government is not doing enough to remedy the situation.

    Fehintola, who was represented by the Secretary of Olota-in -Council, Chief Osunabu Bamgboye said: “We have a lot of public schools that have between 80 and 100 pupils in one class with only one teacher to attend to them while other schools need urgent rehabilitation in the state,” he said.

    “Our children deserve the best and it does not matter whether they are attending public or private school, but what matters is that our children must be well grounded and prepared for the ever changing world,” he said.

    Earlier, the Executive Chairman, Universal Basic Education Board, Mufutau Ajibola, said the government was working hard to provide quality education in all the local councils in the state.

    He said: “To revamp our public, the state Universal Basic Education Board had provided many sets of plastic chairs and tables for Early Childhood Care Development Education Centre (ECCDE): 17, 043 sets of 2 seater desks and benches for public primary schools and 10, 900 sets of two seater desks and benches for public Junior Secondary Schools and 7, 148 sets of one table and two chairs for teachers.”

    He thanked the Red Cross for the exhibiting one of the principles of their objectives- voluntary service, adding that the gesture is complementing government’s efforts.

  • NUJ President makes case for public schools

    NUJ President makes case for public schools

    President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mallam Garba Mohammed, has called on both state and federal government to ensure that adequate funds are provided for the smooth running of public schools in the country.

    Mohammed during a courtesy call on the board members of Abia State Polytechnic, Aba stated that, despite numerous efforts the president has made to improve education in the country, the issue of funding tertiary institutions, primary and secondary schools owned by government has remained a very serious challenge in Nigeria.

    “I am very much aware of the efforts made by government especially by the president to ensure that there are interventions in our educational sector. The TETFund (Tertiary Education Trust Fund) projects are visible in most of our tertiary institutions (universities and polytechnics) and I am sure that there are quite a number of projects that are executed by TETFund in this polytechnic. It is therefore pertinent for me to mention here that polytechnics owned by the state government and federal governments have to be properly funded, as we should not rely on university education.

    “Look at the rate of unemployment that we have in this country. Look at what happened during the recruitment exercise, it is an indication that government has to be very, very careful with the high level of unemployment we have in this country and I feel that the best way we can address this problem is by ensuring that we encourage our polytechnics so that after field studies, most of our graduates do not need to rely on white collar jobs. The problem we have in Nigeria today is that most of us are relying on government jobs. But when you have polytechnics and other institutions our youths can be trained to be self-employed. I think that is what should be given much emphasis so that at the end of it all, our youths can have the opportunity of having training.

    The NUJ president, frowning at the over emphasis on university certificate against their polytechnic counterparts said that such undermines the purpose of establishing polytechnic education.

    “The emphasis on university education is killing the polytechnics and other tertiary institutions which is the center of our education.

    Mohammed who came in the company of Sure-P monitoring team to inspect some of the completed Sure-P projects congratulated the board chairman, Hon. Christopher Enweremadu for his appointment and successes he has recorded since he assumed office as the chairman of the polytechnic board.

    He further commended the cordial relationship existing between the polytechnic community and journalists in the state, expressing hope that journalists in the state will continue to sustenance the support.

    In his response, Rt. Hon. Christopher Enweremadu disclosed that the polytechnic community has enjoyed a cordial relationship with members of NUJ in the state and thanked members of the NUJ for helping the institution to draw the attention of the state government to plight of the polytechnic community which he said has yielded positive result.

    Enweremadu urged journalists in the state and the country at large to be fair in all their reports in the interest of country first and in things which would unite than to divide Nigerians.

    According to the board chairman, “When we started asking for improved subvention, we received a lot of support from the media in getting government to see the true picture of the financial status of this place and we want to use this opportunity through you to commend that partnership between this institution and journalists across the country, most especially in Abia state.

    This institution has been very fortunate in its location, attention it has received from the visitor of this polytechnic who is the governor, chief sir T.A Orji who has continued to offer a listening ear to the demands of this institution. Recently the governor approved an upward review of the subvention due this polytechnic from N25m to N90m. This amounts to over 306% improvement in the subventions. It is a demonstration that this government is very ready to partner and improve the academic infrastructure in the state. We are also very grateful to the TETFund projects that have dotted this institution, enabled by the policies of the president of the federal republic of Nigeria.

    You can see that this place was originally a secondary school. Today, with houses, some of the most advanced infrastructures you can get in any polytechnic are all thanked to the partnership that is enabled by federal government policies to advance the tertiary institutions in particular, the polytechnics.”

  • Public schools for civil servants

    The House of Representatives is considering pushing a bill that would compel civil servants and politicians in public office to enrol their wards in Nigerian public schools. It is quite an interesting thought which I fear, unfortunately, will not get anywhere.

    Chairman, House Committee on Finance Hon Jibrin is optimistic the bill will do better in the lower chamber of the national assembly than in the Senate, where it once did not pass the second reading. He believes public schools will fare better if civil and public servants are forced to enrol their wards there.

    It is an ideal, which would have worked well if it were possible. This is because the civil servants and public office holders, especially those in the senior levels take time to select good private schools for their wards. Their views are also respected by the management of these schools who make sure they do not fall short of parents’ expectations. They do not patronise schools that have buildings with cracked walls, fallen roofs, and windowless classrooms; or where the libraries are empty of books and the laboratories are so ill-equipped that they use stoves as Bunsen burners. If their wards come home without being taught, or with unmarked home works they would march to school to demand that the teacher be sacked. In some cases, this happens. Despite the huge amounts they spend on fees, many of these parents still support the school to finance various projects – including purchasing school buses; endowing buildings, or even endowing scholarships.

    If this kind of attention and care are transferred to public schools; if there are more parents asking questions about what is happening in our schools and insisting that wrong practices are corrected, then public schools would be transformed.

    However, it is unlikely that the House of Representatives will succeed in pushing this bill. We have not been able to get our lawmakers to reduce their salaries and other allowances which makes them the highest paid in the world. At N30 million ($189,000) per annum, The Economist magazine reported last month that they earn 116 times more than the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person in Nigeria. Unfortunately, they do not even admit they earn too much.

    If they cannot reduce their salaries and plug waste so that there is judicious use of our scarce national resources for the common good, we should not dream that a law to make civil servants patronise public school can ever see the light of day.

     

    Failings of the police

     

    “The Police is your friend,” we are told. We see this statement on billboards and hear police chiefs say it on television. I can still remember Sergeant Pat Osifo, a Police Officer attached to the Family Support Unit of the Isokoko Police Station in Agege, telling primary school pupils the same thing last month at a Health Education counselling seminar. She told them that they should be free to report to the police if sexually abused. She said the matter would be immediately taken up and the child protected.

    She was not the only one who spoke at the seminar organised by the Agege Local Government Education Authority. Other speakers also urged the pupils not to endure abuse. Dr Josephine Effah-Chukwuma, Executive Director, Project Alert on Violence Against Women, in particular, underscored the need to name and shame child rapists. “We must protect our children but we must name and shame the perpetrators; we must stop this,” she had said.

    However, how will people confidently report child rape cases, if they do not see successful prosecution of rapists? The incidence of child rape reports has been on the rise in the past few months. Last month alone, rape cases were reported in the papers almost on daily basis. While we have made appreciable progress in bringing child rapists before the law, there are also attempts at cover ups which are disheartening and cause serious setback.

    Last week, a mother raised alarm that a middle-aged man who raped her nine-year old was walking free after reporting to the police. She said she was surprised when the IPO handling the case told her she (the officer) was going on leave so the case would stall. On the other hand, the child abuser said he had been to the police and they told him to go. He even said only God can judge whether he is guilty. Yet this man repeatedly abused the young girl.

    Any of the pupils that attended the seminar would have been confused hearing that the police put the nine-year old girl’s case in the cooler. It is contrary to what they were told – to report anybody that abuses them; and even report on behalf of others.

    No matter the status of a child abuser, the police must not be involved in cover up of any sort. Children who are abused suffer psychological trauma which in most cases affect their academic performance and self esteem – not to mention their health. The damage takes time to heal. In some cases the child may never heal if she does not get the support of the family or other people or institutions to overcome the trauma. Cover ups of rapists should not be tolerated. It is our children we must protect, not the rapists.

     

  • State of public schools’ hostels

    “Oh my God! But this is not what we bargained for.” That was the exclamation of a student on entering a hostel’s toilet in one of the public varsities. The complainant was not a fresher, but what must have made him to decry the sorry state of the hostel’s toilet? Was it what he bargained for?

    Upon gaining admission into a higher institution, a prospective student would definitely imagine how life on campus would be. He would fantasise about campus activities, both academic and social. He would also give some moments to how life in the school’s hostel would be, having heard a lot about campus life.

    As a fresher, he would be preoccupied with thoughts of meeting various characters, most especially, those with whom he would live in the same room as roommates. The wonderful time he would have, those he would be assigned the same room with — the good; the fear of the possibility of living with the bad, and the risk in being with the ugly would occupy his thought.

    Despite these realities, everybody still wants to experience life on campus. But would the condition of the hostel life and its environment be fair to student?

    Getting close to some schools’ hostels, one is welcomed by grass from which an awful odour is oozing. Some schools’ toilet walls have been covered with all sorts of graffiti, some of which are written with faeces. Moving into the hostel room to discover the number of students allocated the same room is another thing that makes one unhappy. A standard room of four students may be assigned five to seven students. And this is common in boys’ hostels.

    Most university hostels lack the basic amenities necessary for the survival of the students living in them, thereby making academic environment unaccommodating for students to achieve success. Poor power and water supply has become a tradition on campus, which has made some impatient students to stage violent protests to disrupt academic activities.

    Those that attended the public institutions in 70’s and 80’s would be in a better position to tell the story of the dwindling glory of tertiary institution’s hostels. The deplorable state of the toilets and bathrooms is now stale news to the public. While the poor management of these facilities by the authorities and Students’ Affairs Units makes them to deteriorate to a horrendous state, most of the facilities are hardly renovated even after realising huge sum from the rent of the hostels. This decay has resulted in an unhygienic environment, and thus a threat to the health of students.

    Nevertheless, most students still prefer to stay in hostels rather than off-campus. This is because of the experience it affords them, which ranges from learning how to live with people of different characters and philosophies diplomatically, and how to manage limited resources.

    The cogent reason that makes students to want to live in school hostels is that, it stokes their interest to study hard. Thus being in an environment where one always sees his fellow students going in and out of library makes him equally to study consciously. And even the most unserious student would be moved. In other words, it brings about encouragement and motivation for a student. In addition, school hostels are affordable and secure for students, except in institution where security is weak.

    The National Universities Commission (NUC) and other boards overseeing tertiary institutions should henceforth include adequate students’ accommodation facilities as one of the requirements for giving any higher institution a license to operate. Every institution should have an accommodation for at least 80 per cent of its students. They must also have provision to expand the capacity with growth in students’ population.

    Though it is not compulsory that students should live in the school hostels, a comfortable and conducive option should be provided for the interested ones.

    The nature of the environment in which a human being grows up contributes to his behavior. Three to six years study duration is enough time to imbibe good attitude as character. And hostels have mixtures of good and bad attitudes; depending on the standard it is kept. A ghetto-like hostel has a high tendency of producing uncultured graduates. But neat, uncongested, conducive and secure hostels with necessary amenities create an enabling environment for improved academic performance. Graduates of high respect, patriotism and good-naturedness are produced from this system.

    However, if the government and the school authorities are incapable of providing these facilities for students, then the private sector should be allowed to do it. While strict measures should be put in place with the view to ensure that best services are made available to students in terms of rate affordability.

    An ideal school hostel provides a platform for improved experience on interpersonal relationship, exchange of ideas and innovations and an environment for productive brainstorming among students with the ultimate goal of excellent academic performance. It is a brooding nest for future leaders of different professions, and should be made capable for that responsibility.

    The sorry state and miserable situations in school halls should be brought to an end. The clamour for the adoption of global best practice should also be extended to the management of the hostels. The government and elite should make the hostels to be like a place they would like their own children to live in. Thus, the glory of the public schools’ hostels must be restored to produce good-nature future leaders for the country.

     

    Kingsley, 400-Level Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, UNN

  • No more transfers into Lagos public schools

    The Lagos State government will no longer accept pupils seeking transfers into JSS2 and SS2 classes in its public secondary schools.

    Chairman of the Lagos State Basic Education Board (LSUBEB), Mrs Gbolahan Daodu, said at a meeting with parents and head teachers held at LTV Blue Roof last Thursday that many candidates seeking admissions from other states usually present forged results from their former schools which become evident when they fail screening tests.

    She added that when they are admitted in JSS2 and SS2, a year before terminal classes, there is insufficient time to prepare them adequately for public examinations, worsening the performance statistics.

    She also said the influx of school-aged children into Lagos daily puts pressure on school infrastructures and makes it difficult for the government to plan for the future.

    “From now on we will not accept transfers into JSS2 and SS2. The reason is that many would say they want to change school and they tell lies. They bring all sorts of documents from other schools where they must have failed. We now conduct exams for these transfers.

    Some people buy forms but don’t come for the exams; some come but at the end we don’t know where to place them,” she said.

    Mrs Daodu also used the meeting to inform parents of the 2013 Placement Tests for Primary Six pupils holding on Saturday. Underscoring the importance of the test, she told the parents it is now compulsory for pupils transiting from primary six in both public and private primary schools, to JSS1 classes to write and pass the test.

    She warned them against trying to influence admission for wards that fail to sit for the examination.

    She said: “All Primary Six pupils both public/private school pupils must write the exam and must make at least 50 per cent. There is no talk that we are ACN, PDP politicians or that we are poor so take our children. If we take them in we are giving our teachers problems.”

    Mrs Daodu, however, appealed to the parents to bear with the government if their wards are placed in schools far from their homes as the number of junior secondary schools in the state is insufficient. She said while areas like Alimosho, Agege, Ketu have overcrowded schools, places like Ogudu had schools that cannot fill their classrooms.

    She also appealed to landowners and chiefs to provide the government with land to build more schools in areas of great need.

    The parents were also addressed by other top education officers, like Mrs Mary Iji, Tutor-General/Permanent Secretary District V, said as the foundational level of education, the primary school stage is the most important of all and as such parents should play his role.

    Lagos State chapter Chairman of the Association of Primary School Heads of Nigeria (AOPSHON), Mr Alase Dosunmu urged the parents to feed and dress their children on the day of the examination.