Lagos primary schools: With poor learning environment, pupils daily exposed to health hazards

It’s the dawn of a new day in Otumara, a small swampy community located in the Lagos Mainland Local Government Area of Lagos State and the sounds of bells from the public primary schools located within the community toll to the pupils’ hearing, causing them to race and wriggle their ways through the marshy land to their respective schools to assemble for early morning devotion before the day’s academic tasks begin.

Dressed in a rough, not so clean but tattered shade nile green colour school uniform, matched with a worn rubber sandal, among the multitudes was a primary 4 pupil of Ebenezer Primary School, Daniel Akintimehin, with his schoolbag and lunch box strapped to his shoulder. Daniel awkwardly dragged his body to his classroom, as he murmured, “my spirit refuses to go to classroom today.”

Like other pupils in the school, Daniel fears the pains and rigours that come with learning in the school environment they found themselves. Among other reasons, the pupils’ spirits do not agree with the fact that they had to be taught in a classroom that is flooded with water whenever it rains and under hot weather condition when the sun shines making learning unbearable for them.

As long as academic activities are concerned, pupils in these primary schools pray to their creator to bequeath them a clement weather and to the Lagos State government to put their classrooms in proper shape for their spirits to conform to learning.

No adequate teachers, decrease in number of enrolment of pupils —Head teachers

On  its official website, Lagos State Ministry of Education informed that there are one thousand and one (1001) primary schools and 339 junior secondary schools in Lagos State.

Of these numbers, Lagos Mainland Local Government, one out of the 20 Local government areas and 37 LCDAs in Lagos State, with a population of about 500, 000 inhabitants, has 25 primary schools with one Junior Secondary School and no Senior Secondary School in Ebute Meta (West) of the LGA.

It is, however, instructive to note that many of these primary schools lack basic amenities that could promote learning while all its classrooms are in a near collapse state with no toilet facilities to the point that pupils have to defecate on the floor of the structure that serves as toilets.

The affected primary schools include St. Peters primary school, Apapa road, St Paul Primary School, Apapa road, Ijero Primary School located on Abule-nla road, Banjo Nursery and Primary School, Ilaje, Otumara; Ebenezer Primary School, also in Ilaje Otumara, Lagos Mainland Local Government Primary School, Ansar-ud-deen Primary School, Odunfa, U.N.A Primary School, Odunfa and Salvation Army, Oko-baba, Oyingbo, Lagos.

It is disheartening that all the aforementioned primary schools except Oroku Primary School which won the best school award in the local government area in 2017 have one thing in common—they are characterised with broken rooftops and fence, collapsing classroom walls, absence of library and toilet facilities, lack of security guards and gardeners and lack of access to potable water.

The head teacher of St Peters Primary School, Apapa road, Mrs Bardi Caroline describes as awful the conditions of classrooms and other infrastructure in the over 50-year-old public school.

Mrs Bardi who was posted to the school almost two years ago said, “The five classrooms that are currently being used by pupils in primary 2 and 6 are given to us by the former head teacher of St Paul Primary School.

“We have our own buildings but they have been damaged. All the desks in the classrooms are broken and the rooftops need urgent fixing. We don’t have clean toilet that our pupils are forced to defecate on the floor of the toilet because the water closets are unkempt and littered with faeces.

The poor state of infrastructure is adversely affecting enrolment of pupils into the school.

“During the last academic session, we had over 500 pupils registered but this session, it has dropped to a little above 130 pupils. No parent would want to enrol his child into a school with roofless classrooms, unhygienic toilets and damaged fence that could exposed children to danger and diseases.”

Located within the same school premises with St. Peters Primary School is St Paul Primary School.

According to the headmistress of the School, Mrs Akintomide M.O, St Paul Primary school has over 500 pupils with one teacher to 45 pupils in a classroom.

This development, Akintomide said is healthy, especially when compared to some primary schools within the district where 80 to 90 pupils occupy a classroom.

Commenting on the condition of building in the school, she said, “The hall and toilets in the school are in terrible shape. I was posted here two years ago, I met the situation in St Peters on the ground. The five classrooms were given to them to accommodate primary two to six pupils by the former headmistress, Mrs Ayanbajo when she discovered that their classrooms were damaged and the roofs leaked with nowhere to put their pupils.

‘Look at all the vice presidents in history; where are they?’

They had written many letters to SUBEB but till now nothing has been heard or done. Apart from the fact that learning and assimilation is difficult under such situation, the children could fall sick because of the stench emanating from the toilet.”

At Ijero Primary School, Abule-nla, Lagos, the situation is no different as one of the teachers in the school that was founded in 1931 by the British missionaries informed that many of their pupils do not live with their parents hence their inability to cope with the payment of developmental levies required to maintain facilities in the school.

According to the teacher who pleaded anonymity, the only manageable structure in the school was donated 15 years ago by a church.

“No form of support has been rendered to the school by the government. The roofs of existing classrooms leak whenever it rains. There are no gardeners to weed the grass. Even when the soak-away pit was filled up, we had to use chemical to submerge it because we cannot afford to contract sewage tanker.”

For the head teacher of Banjo Nursery and Primary School, Mr Shakirudeen Bakare, imparting knowledge to his pupils isn’t a herculean task after all, that, is his calling.

But that he had to engage in teaching job in an unfriendly environment and under harsh weather condition that had his neatly ironed shirt and trouser soaked up in his sweat for the period his teaching lasted was what he couldn’t cope with, thanks to the ramshackle blocks that serve as his office and classroom.

Banjo Nursery and Primary School has a population of 449 pupils with four teaching and eight non-teaching staff.

According to Mr Bakare, since the demolition of the classroom building belonging to the school under former Governor Akinwunmi Ambode without a replacement, Banjo Nursery and Primary School has been a shadow of itself.

He said, “You can see how I am soaked in my sweat. This environment is not conducive for teaching at all, not even for the children. All the classrooms are broken and collapsing. There are no toilet facilities, no library, no water and insecurity permeates everywhere so much that hoodlums break into the classrooms to defecate in them.

“I had to spend part of my salary to buy water for the use of the pupils and staff. Aside this, we have limited number of teachers in the school that I have to handle Primary 3 pupils. The N-Power teachers that were posted to the school have absconded and we are left to manage with some of the non-teaching staff to cover the scheme of work.”

Govt officials pay lip service to decaying structures in primary schools —High Chief Kalejaiye

Confronted with the sight of decaying infrastructure in public schools in his community, High Chief Kehinde Kalejaiye, head of Otumara community says the Lagos state government and its education supervisors are not doing enough to upgrade the falling standard of infrastructure in public primary schools.

While expressing sadness over the shabby state of primary school structures in his community, he said government officials and education supervisors saddled with the responsibilities of monitoring education and education standards in the district only pay lip service to the falling standard of education and structures.

He said, “All the primary schools in Ebute Meta, West, Lagos Mainland except Oroku Primary School are in bad shape.

“There is an urgent need to declare a state of emergency in public primary education in the state. There is no adequate monitoring of school pupils while existing classrooms are collapsing. The numbers of teachers to pupils are inadequate. It is time top government officials enrol their children in these public primary schools, perhaps they will be forced to upgrade the structures.”

We’ll visit affected schools to assess extent of damage —SUBEB

The State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) is the agency of the Lagos state government that is in charge of primary education up to the junior secondary school level in the State.

One of the primary objectives of SUBEB is the handling of construction, rehabilitation and renovation of primary and junior secondary schools in the state.

Meanwhile, when contacted by phone to comment on the falling standard of infrastructure in these primary schools and what needs to be done, Hon. Alawiye King, chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB informed that the vision of the Lagos state government on primary education in the state is to provide qualitative education for all residents.

He said, “I am just getting the information from you now. I will send the Executive Secretary (ES) of the LGA there for an inspection. Or possibly I could go there to see things myself. We need partnership and information from people like you. I will send the ES to go and ascertain the level of dilapidation of infrastructure.

“We are not going to do anything outside the visions of Governor Sanwo-Olu for Lagos state. The vision is keen on the provision of qualitative education for pupils in Lagos state. We have a mandate to ensure that primary education in the state has a great quality and the environment conducive for teaching and learning.”

Nigerian Tribune