By FOLUSO AJIBULU

Less than 24 hours after a pupil of All Saints Anglican Primary School, Okejebu, Akure, Ondo State, Opeyimi Rasheed, was killed by his classmate, Abiodun Oluwadare, on October 7, 2010, Governor Olusegun Mimiko, touched by the avoidable death, paid a condolence visit to the school. Commiserating with the family of the deceased and school authorities, he prayed God to grant them the fortitude to bear the irreparable loss.

Rasheed and Oluwadare had been playing with a pistol allegedly hidden in the school premises by hoodlums who had turned the compound to their operations base when the latter unknowingly pulled the trigger, killing the former instantly.

The family of the deceased got a compensation of N1 million from the state government while the State Universal Primary Education Board (SUBEB) picked the hospital bills of Oluwadare who was injured in the accidental shooting.

The use of the premises of All Saints and St Mark Primary Schools by the bad elements was due to the poor state of their infrastructure. The buildings had seen good times. The bushy surroundings provided a strong armoury for safe keeping of arms and ammunition. These prompted Mimiko to declare war on the almost four decade-old archaic facilities in the schools.

He added then that government would spend half a billion naira on massive renovations and fencing of all dilapidated  school buildings across the state.

“It is the determination of this government to ensure that our primary schools are not death traps.  The fact is that many things we ought to have done earlier have been abandoned long time ago. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a step.  I know that we shall get there even if it takes ten years”, the governor said.

Mimiko explained that the state government was working on the building of Caring Heart Mega Schools in Akure,  Okitipupa, Ikare, Akure and Ondo, among others. The Mega Schools, according to him, were designed to make them meet the taste of the moment in order to return the lost glory of the state in the education sector. The schools would be complete with  facilities such as modern libraries and laboratories.

Eleven months after the renovation of the All Saints and St. Mark Primary Schools began as part of the Caring Heart Mega School project, the once dilapidated structures have become a beautiful sight to behold.

The project, awarded to Step Development Company Limited, six months ago, is a clear departure from the old order. The new school has seven blocks of 42 classrooms fitted with the state of the art facilities.

Unlike in the past when each classroom was occupied by an unimaginable number of pupils, the just-built classrooms will accommodate 25 pupils totaling 525 pupils in each school.

There is also an administrative block comparable to any one in any elite school in this part of the world.

An elated Mimiko, who exclaimed on entering the school’s expansive Resource Centre, expressed satisfaction with the quality of job done by the contracting firm when it’s Chief Executive, Mr Aderemi Oseni, took him round the complex.

Mr. Festus Adekunle, a parent at Ilisa St , Akure, excitedly summed up the scenario in the following words:  “The way  Mimiko  is moving, the day is almost here that Ondo State schools will become the reference point for other states in the country”.