Residents of Wasagi village in Katcha Local Government Area of Niger State have raised the alarm over the deplorable state of the village’s only primary school for more than 10 years.
Community leaders, parents and teachers are pleading with the government and well-meaning individuals to intervene and rebuild the school.
The community is urging the government and concerned stakeholders to urgently rebuild the school and provide instructional materials to create a conducive learning environment, saying they are tired of their children learning under trees.
Speaking to our correspondent, the Dagaci of Wasagi, Alhassan Mohammed Wasagi, expressed frustration over years of neglect despite several appeals to government officials.
“We went to the member representing us, and he came here to take pictures of the collapsing building but did nothing.
“Even the Commissioner for Works came and discussed with us, yet no action has been taken.
“We are now begging anyone who can help rebuild the school so our children can be educated,” he said.
When the reporter visited the community, she met a block of two classrooms that was already collapsing. The floors of the classrooms were all broken, there were no windows, the roof was shattered, there were no ceilings and the cracks on the walls were visible.
The school is said to have housed primary 1 to 6 classes, with each of the classrooms shared into two.
It was learnt that since it was a block of two classrooms, one of the classrooms accommodated primary one and two, the other primary three and four while the primary five and six pupils took their lessons outside.
“When the building was still in good condition, we divided one class for primary one and two, and for class three and four, we divided another class for them in the two classrooms in one block that we have. Five and six take their lessons outside”, Mohammed Aliyu Abubakar, one of the teachers, said.
The dearth of classrooms has forced the pupils to take lessons under trees, and Abubakar said distractions are a major challenge.
“When children learn outside, anything that passes by distracts them, whether it is a machine or even a bird,” he noted.
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It was learnt that some parents are now preventing the pupils from going to school as they are not happy with their children learning outside. They also fear that the children may want to play inside the building, which may collapse at any time.
The Headmaster of the school, Alhaji Mammam Jiya, said the situation has severely affected education in the community.
“I can’t run the school properly. The children are afraid to come to school because of the risk of the building collapsing.
“We sit on the ground as there are no chairs or tables. Examination students have to go to Kateregi to write their exams,” he said.
Efforts made by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) to resolve the problem have yielded no results.
The PTA Chairman, Audu Mohammed, revealed that the community once raised ₦500,000 to rebuild the school but abandoned the plan when the funds proved insufficient for the work to be done.
“We returned the money to those who contributed because it was not enough to start the work. We have written applications and met with officials, but no help has come.
“It is painful, because I was not educated but I want my children to be educated. I have five children in this school,” he said.
Some of the parents who spoke with The Nation expressed worries over the long-term impact on their children’s education.
Alhaji Hussieni Wasagi, who has seven children in the school, described the situation as heartbreaking.
“Sometimes, I send my children to school but they will not want to go. They are afraid the building will collapse. So most often, they do not want to go,” he said.
A Former pupil, Ibrahim, now a junior secondary school student in Kateregi, recalled the difficulty that inheres in studying inside the dilapidated structure.
“We managed it like that, but I feel bad that my younger siblings in the community have no proper school. I want the government to build a better one for them,” he appealed.
Other schools across Katcha Local Government Area are facing the same challenge of dilapidated structures and lack of teachers.
A voluntary teacher in one of the schools in Katcha, Abdulkadir Mohammed, highlighted similar issues in other schools in the area.
Mohammed said: “In my school, only three out of nine structures are standing.
“During the rainy season, the children get wet because the roofs leak.
“We have complained to local authorities but nothing has changed,” he said.
