Lagos Assembly orders relocation of students over school’s poor infrastructure

The Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Education has ordered the relocation of students in Odogunyan Junior Grammar School, Ikorodu over the poor state of buildings in the school.

Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Yinka Ogundimu, who spoke during a visit to the school on Tuesday as part of the visitation of the Committee to schools in the state to ensure compliance with COVID-19 protocols as schools in the state prepares to resume, said that most of the buildings in the school were death traps.

The Principal of the school, Mr Tolulope Ogunlola had earlier told the committee that the situation in the school was terrible and that he had made several efforts to ensure the reconstruction of the buildings.

Ogunlola revealed that the school was always flooded during the rainy season and that the main story building in the school vibrates regularly thus endangering the lives of the teachers and students.

He said that the school had a population of over 4,000 students with about 140 students in a class.

In his comments, Hon. Ogundimu said that the state of the school is terrible and that the buildings and the classrooms were in a terrible state.

Ogundimu said that students should not be allowed to resume to the school because the state of the school was worrisome.

“We will call on LASBCA to come and look at the school. The TG/PS should look for ways to redistribute the students to other schools when schools resume.

“We will communicate with the leadership of the House because the students should not resume here.

“There should be an investigation on the contractors that built the school in 2008 such that it has serious structural defects now.

“The contractors and the engineers that supervised the buildings should be brought to book.

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“Something must be done here immediately. We should protect the lives of the teachers and the students, ” he said.

The Committee had continued its visit to the schools in the state at the District 2 Secretariat, Maryland, Lagos on Tuesday 8th September. 2020.

Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Yinka Ogundimu, who commended the Tutor General/Permanent Secretary of the District, Mrs Elizabeth Anike Adekanye over the way the COVID-19 protocols were being observed at the secretariat, expressed displeasure with the state of the toilets in some of the schools around the secretariat.

At Mende Junior High School, Maryland, where the committee was received by the Principal, Adeniji Gabriel Ajibade, Principal, Ogundimu said that the toilet was not functioning properly and that they were not too pleased with what we met on ground.

The school has 739 students with 10 classes and an average of 80 students per class.

At Immaculate Heart Comprehensive Junior High School, the Principal, Mrs Ogunbiyi Adedotun, while receiving the committee said that they had a thermometer and wash hand basins to prevent COVID-19.

“We have 1053 students and an average of 96 students per class with 25 teachers and six management staff. We have challenges of classrooms and furniture and we don’t have enough teachers for many subjects,” she said.

At Immaculate Heart Comprehensive Senior High School, Maryland, where the Principal, Mrs Olutoyin Okuwobi received the committee, Ogundimu said that the toilet was working well, but that there was a need for more classrooms to accommodate the students.

At Mende Junior High School, Hon. Ogundimu complained to the Principal, Mr Fatokun Joseph Adegbola that the toilets meant for the students were not functioning properly.

He said that the toilet is key to the prevention of COVID-19 and that the school had to do something on the toilets before the students resume.

‘The district should work with you to put the toilet in use. Your students are over 400.

“The students can be properly supervised at the gate. We want improvement, and the wash hand basins at the gate are not working properly. If we come back and we do not see it it would work against the principals,” he said.

At Oriwu College Senior Secondary School, the Principal, Mrs Oguniyi Abiodun told the committee that the school produced the best teacher in Nigeria in 2019 and the best student in Nigeria in 2014.

Oguniyi added that the school was established in 1949 and that it has 535 students operates full boarding while stating that they needed more hostels for the school.

Hon. Yinka Ogundimu said that the school was one of the premier schools in the state and that it is an upgraded school that could meet up with an international standard, adding that it was ready for reopening.

At the Lagos State Civil Service Senior Model College, Igbogbo, Ikorodu, the Principal, Mrs Bolanle Oyesanya said that they had 470 students with an average of 40 students per class.

At the junior section of the school, the  Principal, Mr Kemi Olubajo said that they had 14 classes for 670 students.

The Committee Chairman, Hon. Ogundimu lamented the state of a collapsed building in the compound of the school, which was built in 2002 and renovated in 2013.

“The state Ministry of Education should provide information on this. We should know why they have not demolished the building.

“The school is okay, but there is a dangerous building in the junior secondary school that is structurally defective and we will want the building to be demolished before the students would resume.

“The school needs general rehabilitation as the roofs are leaking,” he said.

This was also the case at Ikorodu Senior and Junior Grammar Schools, where Ogundimu said that the population of the junior arm of the school was too much.

He said that there was a need for more classrooms and more teachers, while he called on the state Commissioner for Education to do something about the situation of the school.

Others on the visit were Hon. Bisi Yusuff (Alimosho 1), Hon. Setonji David (Badagry 2), Hon. Abdulsobur Olawale Olayiwola (Mushin 2) and Hon. Raheem Kazeem (Ibeju Lekki 2).

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE