The Nation Newspaper

Tag: SUBEB

  • Lagos SUBEB sensitises parents on placement test

    Lagos SUBEB sensitises parents on placement test

    The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has outlined the procedures for registerion and placement tests for Primary Six pupils transiting to JSS1 in public secondary schools.

    The exam billed for July 11, this year, is conducted by the Lagos State Examination Board.

    Executive Chairman of SUBEB, Mrs Gbolahan Daodu, explained the importance of filling accurate information to parents and head teachers of private primary schools at a meeting  at the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) Pavilion, Alausa.

    She emphasised the importance of allowing pupils register by themselves to ensure that their faces were captured during the exams.

    Mrs Daodu said pupils that did not register or fail would not be admitted into any public school in the state, regardless of the appeals.

    She warned private schools against hindering their pupils from registering, saying the act is illegal.

    “For private schools to hinder the children from writing the examination is wrong and against the law. In such situation, affected parents should text or contact SUBEB to penalise the school,” she said.

    The SUBEB chair said provision had been made for a re-sit exam for those who fail the first time. However, a second failure would mean repeating primary six.

    She said the exam would ensure the issuance of certificates to pupils upon graduation from primary school, urging parents to help their wards prepare.

    The board has also extended the registration deadline till June 5, to accommodate more entries.

    Mrs Daodu urged parents to be involved in the training and preparation of their wards for the examination, rather than leave it to teachers.

    Commissioner for Education, Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, cautioned parents against neglecting their children’s health and nutritional requirements.

    She said: “Some parents don’t do enough for their children. It is your duty, primarily, as parents, to take care of your children, while government’s role is secondary. Don’t allow your child leave home hungry as this could disturb their academic development. Ensure they are well-fed.”

    The Commisioner also urged parents to continue to support the government by paying their taxes and obeying regulations.

  • SUBEB summons head teacher for alleged extortion

    The Delta State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), has summoned the head mistress of Ahabam Primary School, Asaba, the state capital, Mrs. Franca Odita, over allegations of extortion and absenteeism.

    The Chairman of the board, Elijah Ologie, who made this known shortly after monitoring of resumption of schools in the state, said  culprits would be sanctioned.

    Mrs. Odita allegedly asked National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members deployed in the school  pay N1, 500 for buying plastic chairs before they can work in the school.

    Ologie expressed sadness over the manner some head teachers administer schools in the state.

    Said Ologie: “Appropriate disciplinary measures will be meted out to defaulting teachers. We have invited the head teacher of the school to the board, the lapses are too grave and I don’t think that the board will take it likely. We have gotten the report before and this is just a confirmation”.

    The SUBEB boss continued:  “We have withheld a lot of teachers’ salaries for various degrees of offences; some were suspended, some lost their jobs and it is quite a grave punishment.”

    He charged teachers to change their attitude towards the improvement of education in the state.

    “We cannot play with the future of our children and society,” he added.

    Ologie urged parents to release their children upon resumption in order to meet up with academic work.

    “The purpose of this monitoring is to ensure that pupils and teachers resume promptly.The turnout is very poor, considering that pupils have resumed for some time and up till now, you don’t have a lot of them in the classroom. Teachers, too, are not helping matters. It is quite disappointing,” Ologie lamented.

    He noted that the government had done well in providing facilities for teachers to inculcate quality education. He noted that teachers were lacking in this regard.

  • SUBEB award: Winners share tips

    It or the 60 recipients of this  year’s Annual Merit Award of Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB), it felt good to be rewarded for hard work. To them, one does not get recognised everyday.

    Some of them, who spoke with The Nation, shared the secret of their successes to motivate others to work hard.

    The star of the day was the best teacher, Mrs Funmilayo Akinlade, who teaches at the African Church Primary School, Mosan, in Alimosho.  She got a car and a washing machine for her effort, which she said resulted from intrinsic motivation and the desire to be part of the success story of her pupils.

    She advised other teachers not to be motivated by external factors and treat their pupils with respect, saying that nobody is destined to be low.

    “My advice to others regarding their attitude to work is that they should put in more energy, they should have internal motivation and should not depend on people to motivate them.  A lot of times you do work without motivation coming from anywhere,” said Mrs Akinlade.

    She said her aim was to improve the self esteem of public school pupils.

    Education Secretary, Agege Local Education Authority (LGEA), Olalekan Majiyagbe, whose local government was declared the best among the 20 LGEAs, said teachers must invest in themselves to stand out.

    He said: “I am just appealing to those teachers that have lesser qualifications to develop themselves so that frustration will not set it.  I could observe that some of them, who fail to update themselves, constitute problem in the system.  They should update themselves through the teacher-vacation courses.”

    Head Teacher, Modupe Cole Memorial Home School, Akoka, Mrs Florence Kayode, who won the best special school category, said winning the best special school category  showed that special children can be useful.

    “I am happy and the children are also happy.  It shows that in every disability there is ability.  This is to encourage the parents of special children to bring out their children so that they will have sense of belonging in the community,” she said.

    Administrative  staff at SUBEB Headquarters in Maryland, Ikeja, Lagos were also rewarded at the event.  Mrs Abimbola Okudero, a Quantity Surveyor in the Project Department, who came second in the Senior Staff Category and Mrs Oyewole Adebisi  of the School Services Department, who won the best Junior Staff category, thanked the management for recognising their hardwork.

    The SUBEB Chairman, Mrs Gbolahan Daodu, urged the recipients to work harder and encouraged those who did not win to start working towards next year.

    “I want to congratulate the awardees and also urge them to know that the sky is just the limit. They should not relent and others to buckle up to make sure that they too excel and perform excellently by next year,” she said.

    Chairman of the occasion, Alhaji Busari Gbadeyanka, who was represented by the Director, Public Relations and Corporate Affairs, Murhi International Television, Mrs Olubunmi Windapo,  praised SUBEB for rewarding all categories of workers.

    “This is a great and unique occasion, unique in the sense that messengers, clerks are being recognised alongside senior members of staff.  This bottom-up approach is laudable,” she said.

    Prizes presented included a car (courtesy of Ecobank), flat screen TV, refridgerators, washing machines and water dispensers.

  • Lagos SUBEB fetes retired teachers

    Rather than stay idle and inactive, retired teachers and other workers who served under the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) have been counselled to play active roles in their communities.

    The retirees were told this by various officials at the SUBEB yearly welfare event for retired septuagenarians held at the SUBEB Hall, Maryland.

    Delivering the keynote address, Mrs Titilayo Solarin, Tutor-General/Permanent Secretary (TGPS) Education Distrct II, said playing a role in their communities would help the retirees remain active and relevant.

    “Play a role in the community you live.  Be relevant and active.  If you sit at home and do not get involved, you are not preparing ground enough for those coming behind.  Play an advisory role; talk to the youth; let them know you as someone they can rely on and trust.  Pray for them and as you do so, God will bless you,” she said.

    Speaking further, the Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State governor on Primary Education, Mrs Abosede Ottun, said the retirees should not feel uncomfortable minding the business of their communities as it is the common practice abroad.

    “It is your business to know what is happening in your communities.  That is what senior citizens do abroad.  If they see anything that is out of place, they call the police,” she said.

    The retirees were also counselled to exercise, move closer to God, and keep their appointments with their doctors.

    Each retiree gift was presented with a bag of food items, which the SUBEB Chairman, Mrs Gbolahan Daodu, said was just a symbolic gift that was not commensurate to their worth to the board.

    “This is the third time we are having this celebration.  The essence is to appreciate our dear mamas and papas who have spent their youth serving Lagos State.  These gifts we are giving you are symbolic – to tell you that for every single day, we appreciate you,” she said.

    Reacting to the gesture, Mrs Virginia Adelaja, who retired as the Head Teacher of St Agnes Primary School, Somolu, in 1996, said she was happy they were being remembered.

    “It is welcoming because nobody thinks of teachers.  The fact that they gave us this ceremony shows that they appreciate us,” she said.

    Mrs Adelaja advised the government to restore discipline in schools.

    “In our days there was discipline.  But today there are lots of interventions these days that affects the level of discipline in schools and education is on the decline.  The home, school, government should work together to correct this,” she said.

    Chairman of the Teachers’ Pensioners Association, Pa J.O. Sanya, thanked the SUBEB chairman for introducing the event.

  • Kaduna SUBEB gets Certificate of Credence

    THE Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), has been awarded a certificate of credence by the Centre for Ethics and Self Value Orientation, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO), for its outstanding qualities in the administration of primary education in the state.

    Presenting the award to SUBEB Chairman, Mr. Ishaya Dary Akau, at the board’s head office, the Executive Director of the NGO, Prince Saleh Musa Yakubu, said the organisation’s primary responsibility is to expose corruption and corrupt leaders.

    He said after probe of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDGs) in the 23 local government areas of the state, SUBEB was found to be outstanding in its dealings.

    “Kaduna SUBEB has been found to have a transparent and effective quality control mechanism in contracts awarded and schools administration. In our investigations, we also found out that SUBEB is the most ethically responsible MDAs in the state,” he said.

    He continued: “We are engaged in giving the public ethical education and value orientation. We do not patronise criminals in public offices. But while we go after corrupt individuals with the intent to expose their corrupt activities, we reward Nigerians found to be doing the correct thing without their consent. We do so by going down to the interior, meet traditional rulers, students, teachers, conducting opinion polls, visiting projects, raising questionnaires, and drawing an objective conclusion before awarding an individual or organisation found worthy.”

    According to Yakubu, the organisation is self reliant through membership subscriptions, unsolicited support from individuals, who are happy with the NGO activities.

    “SUBEB has demonstrated transparency  under the leadership of Mr. Ishaya Dary Akau as the chairman, and we found him worthy of the award,” he said.

    Responding, Akau said he was humbled by the presentation leading to the award, adding that he would not have succeeded without the support of the entire workers.

    He said the mission of SUBEB is to always work together with other stakeholders in order to prepare children to be self reliant and lifelong learners.

    According to Akau, if the right action was taken at the basic level of education, it would not have resulted in the failure experienced at secondary and tertiary institutions.

    He said: “If pupils were well taken care of from when they were small, they would have grown up to be a better person in life. We are doing our best and we will not relent. To me, the award will further ginger us to intensify efforts and build on our achievements and successes.”

  • Jonathan’s school, SUBEB and I, by Liverpool

    Jonathan’s school, SUBEB and I, by Liverpool

    The Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr. Walton Liverpool, in this interview with MIKE ODIEGWU, speaks on the state of emergency declared in the state’s educational sector and crisis rocking SUBEB.

    what was the nature of Educational system in Bayelsa State prior to the Inauguration of this present board?

    Actually, we came into existence in August 6, 2012 after our Governor Serike Dickson declared a state of emergency in our educational sector. The educational system was in the state of comatose and the children were learning under leaking thatched roofs. The system was collapsed. We just felt that it is not good enough for the state. In our first SUBEB quality assurance meeting, Bayelsa came least out of the 36 states in the country. We had to tell them that we just came on board and that if they could give us some times, we would meet up with whatever expected standard and actually in not less than two years Bayelsa has moved from the least performing state to the number 10th position in the country.

    These were the achievements we recorded within this period. Actually the governor in our assumption in office paid a counterpart fund of 1.8 billion Naira which was Bayelsa’s share. With that, we have been able to construct 200 primary schools across the state. We did not end there; some mega projects that were abandoned before we came in were activated. We mobilised the contractors to start working on the schools.

    Most of them that could not meet our standard, we revoked their contracts and gave them to other contractors and today out of 25 ongoing projects we have successfully completed 21 of those schools here in Yanegoa .All the completed schools contain 12 classrooms, 23 toilets, a multi-purpose hall ,for primary school pupils which is as big as the banquet hall and an ICT hall where primary school pupils can access the internet right in their school here in Yenagoa and even teachers research room which is also computerized at present.

    Now when you look at the headmaster’s office, you can confuse it with that of the commissioner’s office. There is no school in the country that can measure up with the schools we have built in Bayelsa state not even in Rivers State. We have seven of these schools in Yenegoa metropolis. We have in Okolobiri , Opolo, Zarama, Biogbolo, Agudiama Epie and Ekpetiama.  We have installed 75KVA sound-proof generators in all the schools we have mentioned. We have also dug boreholes to regularly supply water to avoid messing up the environment.

    Are these schools operating now?

    Yes. You can take a ride to all the newly constructed schools in the metropolis. You will see that we have installed generators in all the schools because without them, the internet cannot be accessed. So, if you go to Brass, we have one in Twon Brass, another in Okpoma in Nembe, we have one. In Southern ijaw, we have in Amasoma and Oporoma. Tha is the success we recorded which made us to attain such height in the educational sector in the country.

    These schools are built with headmasters’ quarters. The governor approved 400 projects which include 400 headmasters’ quarters built across the state and if you go round the schools you hardly see a school without a headmaster’s quarters although we haven’t completely built such quarters in all schools because we have over 540 primary schools. The remaining ones will be done or completed with the 2014 intervention fund.

    But pupils are still sitting on the floor in some schools including those in the primary school attended by President Goodluck Jonathan in Otuoke.

    For the President Goodluck Jonthan’s primary school, the governor has directed that the school should be pulled down and rebuilt. So as we talk, they are working on the school. Before the directive was given, more than 200 seats have also been sent to the school. But when I went to the school to see things for myself to know if the furniture was distributed to the children, I discovered that the chairs were surplus and most of them were packed inside a room.

    They also complained that the school lacked headmaster’s quarters and that we have built headmasters’ quarters in other schools across the state. At the same time, they said there was no land to build on. But when I went behind I saw an old structure there which I pulled down. As we talk now the headmasters’ quarters is almost ready. We are doing a lot of work in Otuoke and by the time we finish with that school, I don’t think any school will be better than that school.

    On this issue of children sitting on the ground, I want to categorically make a statement that by September this year no child will sit on the ground because we have made adequate arrangement to flood all schools with desks including teachers tables and chairs. The problems we had was the 2012 mighty flood that caused the schools and villages to be submerged by water. Then, if you go to our schools, you would just see only roofs. The whole buildings were inside water while those that were not submerged were used as camping ground for flood victims.

    We also discovered that women were using our chairs as firewood. This happened even in my own community. When we got back to all these schools, more than half of the seats were broken and used as firewood. There was nothing we could do because the water covered everywhere and there was no room for going into the bush to fetch firewood. So our chairs became firewood. Those were the things we experienced. The modern educational structure we are looking at is a gradual thing.

    Did you say nothing was done against the people who broke school chairs for firewood?

    There is nothing we can do about this because these people are villagers. Do you know in a place called Okoroba, a school compound well-completed and furnished, the community boys whose houses submerged during the 2012 flood used axe to break into those completed houses and they were sleeping inside those houses within those period. They vandalised a lot of things so when we heard of this incident, we went there with policemen with the intention to round them up but they stood their ground because they preferred to die instead of packing out.

    They said, ‘we don’t have any place to stay while will you lock all this places up?’ In a place called Odi, the whole Odi community went into that place and they were cooking inside our classroom, that befitting structure we have built. But after everything we asked, the contractors to repaint the structures.

    Your board is enmeshed in crisis and other members the board are up in arms against you. Has the crisis been resolved?

     

    As far as I am concerned, this board has no crisis. People are only trying to create artificial problem. As human beings, most times we disagree to agree. The area of disagreement now for example is on the nature of the board. Before now, the board operated in full time and each board member was entitled to an office. But today, the board is now working in part-time and nobody is entitled to a personal office apar from the executive secretary.

    The amended law is very clear which states that the executive secretary is the Chief Accounting Officer of the board. The law also said that the executive secretary is in charge of the day to day activities and running of the office while other board members are supposed to come to the meetings on quarterly basis. But most of the members do not understand the nomenclature of the board despite the fact that the laws were made available to them. Some are not even willing to read the law.

    They want to operate like full-time staff and question me on routine administrative matters like giving a teacher query and promotion of staff However, this is my legitimate duty. Mine is to set up a promotion committee, interview them and later present the result to board meetings for them to rectify. Then, letters are issued accordingly. These people are saying that I must invite the board members before taking any decision on who to promote. But this is not how it is done. This is the sole responsibility of the executive secretary.

    But the board members accused you of taking a critical decision of sacking teachers without informing them.

    Yes. The teachers were sacked by the board but the board members went behind me, and denied me. Thank God I had the video clips of the meeting, where all their faces, the minutes on how the decision to sack the teachers were taken. This group of people went to the assembly and denied me and this was a set-up. But I stood my ground. It was only one person that stood by me that was how God vindicated me.

    Also while in the assembly, they interviewed them by asking them ‘how many times we have met for our board meetings?’ They ended up by saying that we have met just thrice but the reality of the matter is that, apart from the last meeting held, this will make it the fifteenth time we have met from the time of inauguration. But if you want to go by the normal meeting it ought to be quarterly that is four times in a year.

     

  • SUBEB boss blames schools for shoddy registratoin

    SUBEB boss blames schools for shoddy registratoin

    •139,032 pupils take placement test

    espite adequate planning by the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB) and the Examinations Board, some Primary Six pupils did not write the Lagos State Placement Test last Saturday.

    About 139,032 Primary Six pupils from both public and private schools had registered to take the examination for admission into public junior secondary schools in Lagos State.

    However, when the SUBEB Chairman, Mrs Gbolahan Daodu visited some of the 266 designated centres scattered across the six education districts of the state, her attention was drawn to some candidates who could not provide evidence that they were registered for the examination.  Many were prevented from writing the examination.

    Mrs Daodu visited centres hosted by the Immaculate Junior Secondary School, Maryland; Ojota Junior Grammar School, Ojota Senior Grammar School, both in Ojota; Ilupeju Junior Grammar School, and Ilupeju Junior Secondary School.

    About four months before the test, schools were required to register their candidates with the sum of N5,000 each at the examination board.  With the details provided, the board customised the OMR (Optical Mark Recognition) answer sheets for each candidate and registered them in centres within their neighbourhoods.  The sheets were sent to the centres bearing the names and passport photographs of the candidates.

    At the Immaculate Junior Secondary School, a pupil, who said she was from Victory Hope Primary School, Ikorodu, was the lone candidate from her school. She was not allowed to write the examination because she was not registered at the centre.

    The young girl, who was taken to Mrs Daodu said her father dropped her at the centre and left.  When asked if he would come for her afterwards, she said she was to join her mother at another location.  Mrs Daodu put a call through to her father to pick her up as she could not write the examination.

    SUBEBE officials at the centre said she was not supposed to come all the way from Ikorodu to Maryland to sit for the test because her school would have been assigned to a closer centre.

    However, the girl was not the lone case. About 20 other pupils in the centre were sent away.  Some of the candidates were from a private school called Aunty B Private School. The female teacher who accompanied them said she was surprised that the school’s registration details were not at the centre.

    “We made payment to one man at the Examination Board.  I am trying to call the man now but his number is not going through,” she said.

    Another teacher, who came with five pupils who wore muftis instead of their uniforms, as was the requirement, was unable to provide evidence of his school’s registration details.  He claimed that the person who handled the registration for the school had died a few days to the examination.

    Mrs Daodu lamented that the problems came from private schools that did not register on time despite charging parents far higher than the N5,000 fee stipulated by the examination board.  She blamed parents for not being careful in selecting the schools they enrolled their wards.

    She said: “In respect to our own plans, everybody that registered doesn’t have problems. The problems are not with the public schools because we took their registers a long time ago.  We have captured everybody that needs to sit for the exam, and they are okay.

    “It is the private schools that have created the challenges on ground. Most of the people we saw here are people from private schools, and mostly even unregistered private schools.  We learnt that that even up till yesterday night, or afternoon (Friday) they were still coming to register.  It is not possible for such schools and their pupil to do the examination. For us to succeed in any thing we want to do, there must be adequate plan. All schools either private or public were given enough notice; and in order not to have this kind problem, they are the ones that have disrupted the programme.  It is unfair on the parents and pupils.”

  • ‘Western education, a plus to Islam’

    A socialist, Mr Alabi Sharafadeen has said western education is a plus to Islam.

    He said education is a relative term which is applicable to any religion. He said Islam inculcate moral values and virtues which originates from home while western education complements it by giving sense of socialisation, shape one’s ability to having a successful life and contributes to societal development.

    He spoke at the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) interactive forum for Muslim pupils in public primary schools, at SUBEB hall, Maryland.

    Sharafadeen stressed that western education is not condemned in Islam.

    “Islamic religion does not kick against western education, in fact we embrace it. It is the key to solve major problems of life. It gives the right manner and thought to life. The role of it is to add more knowledge to our already existed Islamic religion,” he said.

    He chided members of Boko Haram, saying the insurgent is only trying to falsify the benefits accrued from western education.

    He admitted that the negative effect of western education is promotion of moral decadence.

    “It has degraded our conventional lifestyle, our music and movie industry is being polluted with nudity and also internet fraud,” Sharafadeen said.

    He advised the pupils to be focused and embrace every positive benefits western education offers.

    SUBEB chairman Mrs Gbolahan Dawodu, said the objective of the programme is to inculcate the fear of Allah in the minds of the pupils right from the primary school level.

    She said the lecture will help prevent them from being influenced with social vices which is prevalent in the society.

     

     

  • Bayelsa SUBEB chief under fire

    Bayelsa SUBEB chief under fire

    President Goodluck  Jonathan’s kinsmen are seeking a major revamp of his  primary school amid a major crisis rocking the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), reports MIKE ODIEWGU and  EVELYN OSAGIE

    Washington Liverpool or Walton Liverpool, as he is famously called, is in the eye of a big storm. He is the Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and Governor Seriake Dickson’s in-law. His major problem is how he is running SUBEB. An adjunct of this problem is his claim that President Gooodluck Jonathan’s alma mater, State School One, in Otuoke is not in a state of disrepair.

    State School One is the product of the split of St Stephen’s School, Otuoke, where Dr. Jonathan had his elementary education. At the time he attended the school, it had only primary one to three. After completing Primary Three in the school, Jonathan moved to St. Michael’s Primary School, Oloibiri, to continue his primary education.

    When The Nation visited the school, pupils of State School, Otuoke had no chairs. They were learning under unpleasant conditions and trekking a long distance before using a lavatory. Like in the case of the president, some had no shoes on; others wore rubber slippers or ‘shoes now turned slippers’. There were tattered-looking uniforms as there were those who wore neat ones with shoes and/or stockings neatly folded.

    The school was founded in 1937 by missionaries. At that time it was beside the Anglican Church where the Town Hall now stands. At a point, the name was changed to All State School under Governor Rufus Ada-George and later to State School. Eventually, it was divided into State School One and State School Two to manage the number of pupils.

    The L-shaped and M-shaped buildings (split in the middle by an independent building housing the library) located at the far end of the large compound houses the two schools. The school is next-door neighbour to Jonathan’s Country Villa, containing three magnificent edifices, with Otuaba road separating both structures. And on the Main Road, it is directly opposite the Anglican Church on the Yenagoa/Otuoke Road. And not far away from it is the Federal University Otuoke (FUO).

    The bright coloured-yellow-and-green paint coating on the wall of what appears as new buildings, with most windows facing the Main Road intact, are deceptive of the decay that lies within.

    The pupils, particularly those in State School One, are learning under very harsh conditions and unpleasant environment. The situation has not changed, though chairs have been supplied but cannot be used because there are no doors on the classrooms to secure them.

    Aside Primary Six that has all its doors and windows intact, other classes lack doors with some windows that have fallen off at the back, thus, giving free entry to sunlight and rain. The pupils often suffer the harsh rays penetrating into their room and are drenched, especially when it rains heavily.

    In some classes, blackboards are held up by wooden or plastic chairs or tables; the floor and ceiling boards have cracks in them; and there are not enough benches and chairs to go round. For instance, in a class of 60 pupils, the benches and chairs might not be more than 10. As a result, the pupils are forced to receive lectures sitting on dusty bare floors. Pupils were seen struggling for the little available seats. Most of their clothes were worn-out, perhaps due to the wear and tear of the constant washing that comes with sitting on a bare floor.

    Significantly, the classrooms are too small for the number of pupils crammed into it. A single class now has more than 50 pupils. In some cases, two classes are merged into one to contain the pupils. The ceiling board and floors are bad. Five to seven pupils force themselves to sit on one seat. The Christ Embassy donated 50 plastic chairs and tables for Primary Six. For security reasons, they are packed after closing hours and locked up somewhere safe.

    But Liverpool insists the school is not dilapidated. A source told The Nation earlier in the week that following the reports on the school, the SUBEB boss came visiting last Friday and was really livid with the headteacher.

    Said the source: “Last Friday, as a result of your publication, the SUBEB Executive Secretary, Mr Walton Liverpool, came to the school. He was angry over the fact that the school’s Headmaster talked to you, the press, about the present state of the school and various visits and intervention made so far by the government and the SUBEB, saying he had just come from a summon by the governor over the report.

    “He threatened to transfer the Headmaster to a faraway school in an Island surrounded by water or even sack him. As of now, we don’t know what will happen to the Headmaster. We are still watching to see the outcome.”

    The Nation learnt that a contractor was in the school on Tuesday on the instruction of the Ministry of Education.

    “They said the governor gave them the contract to renovate the school; but the community resisted them. The community demanded that beyond renovation, a new school should be built instead because the school is too small for the pupils there now. Even though they may not have enough land, they demanded that the school be turned into a more modern structure of one-storey building.”

    Aside his woe as a result of the president’s school, Liverpool has so many other worries. He is at loggerheads with members of the SUBEB board and the House of Assembly.

    When Dickson inaugurated SUBEB, he urged it to give the primary schools a major push. The major components of the plan for the primary schools are free tuition, improved infrastructure, free uniforms, sandals and desks for all pupils. SUBEB was also mandated to take and execute critical decisions on teachers’ recruitment, promotion and welfare. These were the components of the emergency declared by the governor on the sector.

    But several months down the line, the objectives of the emergency on education are far from being realised. Pupils are still paying some fees charged by their school management. Free uniforms and sandals are nowhere to be found and pupils are embarrassingly sitting on bare floor to receive lectures in some classrooms owing to lack of desks.

    In fact, many say the board has failed in its mandates. Liverpool is at the centre of the failed board. He has been the focus of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly since the lawmakers began their probe on problems besetting the educational sector.

    Recently, the board members washed their dirty linens on the floor of the House. Aggrieved members took Liverpool to the cleaners. They accused him of acting like a King Kong and placed all crises rocking the board and the sector on his doorsteps.

    They said Liverpool is running the board like a sole administrator and using his relationship with the governor to intimidate them. They lamented that the highhandedness of Liverpool had made nonsense of the existence of the board, alleging that the secretary had usurped the functions of the Board Chairman.

    According to them, Liverpool was carrying on as if the board never existed and that his actions had negated the good intentions of the emergency declared on education by Dickson.

    Members of the board were never part of most of the activities and programmes, including the ongoing employment and promotional interviews executed by the board, they said.

    A member of the board, Mr. Austin Dressman, said Liverpool was fond of going against the collective decision of members of the board. After taking some collective decisions, he said Liverpool would turn around to implement his sole decision. He said statutory board meetings were reduced by the secretary as forum to merely inform the members of SUBEB activities.

    “The governor declared a state of emergency in education and in his wisdom appointed us to midwife and execute the programme. But the functions of this board are not being carried out,” he said.

    Dressman, a who said he had 30 years experience in management, decried the attitude of Liverpool, saying the board members had been rendered redundant. He said the board met formally about three times since its establishment, adding that the meetings always ended up in disagreements and chaos.

    The SUBEB secretary was also accused of favoritism and deliberately allocating more slots to his Sagbama Local Government Area than other councils during the recruitment of teachers. When asked by the House to state how the employment was distributed, Liverpool said he could not remember.

    Though other members of the board perhaps out of fear were not firm while responding to interrogations from the Speaker of the House, Mr. Kombowei Benson, the Board Chairman, Mrs. Florence William-Ebi, did not waver.

    Mrs William-Ebi said she was relegated to the background by Liverpool. Citing an example, she said she knew nothing about the ongoing promotional examination for teachers in the state until she got the information from outsiders.

    “Virtually nothing is being done the way the law prescribed our existence. The board is not moving smoothly. Each time we meet, we always argue on issues. Even when we decide on something, another thing is implemented,” she said.

    But, Liverpool denied all the allegations and said members of the board were involved in its management. “It is not true that I am a sole administrator of the board. We have been meeting as recommended by the law,” he said.

    The rattled SUBEB secretary is further accused of neglecting schools in Ogbia, Jonathan’s local government area.

    Liverpool is also at the centre of the controversies surrounding an alleged illegal suspension of about 400 teachers. He was said to have overstepped the decision of the board to relive the teachers of their jobs.

    All efforts to get the SUBEB chief to reverse the decision proved abortive, even after the teachers had gone through series of verifications by a team led by Chief B. Isagara. The team was said to have recommended that the teachers should be retained while more teachers of science background be employed. The governor reportedly adopted the recommendations and approved that their salaries should be paid.

    The teachers later complained that Liverpool gave counter directive but that after dilly-dallying he issued fresh employment letters to them and placed them under three months probation.

    Shortly after that, the SUBEB boss was said to have overruled the fresh employment and immediately went on air to announce the suspension of the teachers who had discharged their functions for three months.

    “This is the same reengagement he publicised in the media as having followed due process. It is painful that our arrears of salaries before our employment was suspended have not been paid.

    “Even the three months we worked after our reengagement have yet to be paid. So, we are compelled to believe that this whole thing is political,” the teachers said.

    The teachers, after waiting in vain to be reinstated, took their matter to court. Niger Delta Report recently gathered that the court had ordered the parties to engage in out-of-court settlement.

    But, Liverpool has always defended his actions. He described public primary and secondary schools in Otuoke as the best in the state.

    He also reinstated the board’s commitment to supply seats to all the primary and secondary schools across the state. Liverpool, also said that the government was set to distribute over 13,000 seats and desks to schoolchildren across the state.

    He also reaffirmed the government’s commitment to providing conducive learning environment to schools in the state.

    The SUBEB boss said: “In continuation of the government’s policy to equip schools in the state with necessary infrastructure, the board has concluded plans to provide over 13, 000 seats and desks which will be distributed to all schools soon.

    “This is in addition to the ones already provided since the inception of the current administration. The target is before September 2014, every schoolchild in the state will have a comfortable seat to study.”

    According to him, about 200 seats and desks were ready for some primary schools around Otuoke and other communities in the area that were devastated by the last floods.

    Liverpool also spoke on completed school projects in the state, saying the board had completed 25 community primary schools and Basic Junior Secondary schools.

    Some of the completed schools, according to Liverpool, are CPS Biogbolo, Swali, Opolo, Okolobiri, Ogbia- CPS Elebele, Otueke, Ogbia Town, Ebedebiri, Okunbiri, Sagabama town, CSP Ekeremo and BJSS (Basic Junior Secondary School.

    How long he withstands the storm remains to be seen. But what is not in doubt he has murdered sleep and sleeping easy should not be a luxury for him.

  • Bayelsa Assembly summons commissioner, others

    Bayelsa Assembly summons commissioner, others

    The Bayelsa State House of Assembly has summoned the state Commissioner for Education, Chief Salo Adikumo, his permanent secretary and the Executive Secretary of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) over alleged rot in the state’s education system.

    The affected persons are expected to appear before the lawmakers next Tuesday to explain the decay in the system.

    Also to appear before the House, include the Chairman of the Senior Secondary Schools Board and the Special Adviser and the Senior Special Assistants to the Governor on Education Matters.

    The House also ordered the officials to come along with their nominal roll of teachers and other employees under their control.

    It was also gathered that the officials have been asked to list the current positing of teachers to various schools under their supervision.

    Governor Seriake Dickson had ordered the arrest of some SUBEB officials over issues bordering on alleged financial mismanagement.

    Investigations by the House of Assembly revealed that there was about four to one disparity ratio in the teaching staff of schools in the urban centres and the rural areas.

    The discovery was said to have forced the lawmakers to wonder why there were more employees in the deep rural areas than in the urban areas.