THERE is currently an acute shortage of tables and chairs in public primary and secondary schools in Delta State, but the education ministry has appealed to those affected to bear with the state government, saying that everything possible is being done to ameliorate the situation.
The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah, in a statement described the situation as pathetic and unacceptable.
He, however, blamed residents of the communities where the schools are located for the sorry state of infrastructure in those schools, saying they are the ones who destroy the facilities provided in the schools by the state government.
Chief Ukah urged residents of the communities to take possession of the schools and protect the infrastructure and facilities inside the schools.
He wondered why chairs, tables, writing boards, doors, windows, protectors and even walls are vandalised by people in the communities who are supposed to protect them, noting that there is no school that was built and opened for use without adequate chairs and tables provided, but that some people in the communities vandalise those facilities.
The statement added that with the recent completion of the needs assessment of all schools in the state, the state government had awarded contracts for the supply of chairs and tables to some schools in Delta North, Delta South, Delta Central, Warri federal constituency and the state capital, but that this cannot yet go round all the schools because they cannot all be accommodated at the same time.