BY VINCENT UJUMADU
AWKA— MINISTER of State for Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, has expressed shock at the level of infrastructural decay in the Federal Government Technical College, Awka, Anambra State, regretting that the situation was almost the same in all unity schools he had visited across the country.

The minister, who spoke while inspecting facilities at the school, kept shaking his head in dismay, wondering what the students could learn under such a situation.

“This is terrible,” he kept saying in lamentation..

Wike, whose visit to two unity schools in Awka and Nise, Anambra State, was unscheduled, listened in disbelief while students narrated the difficulties they were passing through in their quest to acquire education.

Among the problems enumerated by the students were inadequate accommodation which makes them sleep two on a bed, lack of equipment at the various workshops and laboratories, inadequate number of teachers, lack of electricity in the classrooms and dormitories and dirty environment, with its health implications.

Though a technical school, the students said they were not exposed to practicals.

Wike also heard that many teachers had been on part time for seven years, while those who were promoted since 2008 were still receiving salaries of their previous levels.

Addressing the staff and students, the minister said he decided to pay an unscheduled visit to the schools to enable him get first hand knowledge of the situation, adding that in line with President Goodluck Jonathan’s transformation agenda, the standard of infrastructure would be improved in all educational institutions in the country.

He said: “All these problems cannot be solved in one day, but those that are necessary for improvement of the standard of education will be tackled immediately.”

With what we are planning, there will be changes in all schools before the end of the tenure of the present administration.

“The important thing is that there is commitment on the part of government to improve the facilities. We will take the schools in phases and we hope that by the end of four years, we would have gone round all the schools. From what I have seen, there is definitely so much work to do.”

According to him, the inspectorate division of the ministry will be provided with the required funds to enable the inspectors carry out their duties efficiently and feed the policy makers with information on the needs of the schools on a regular basis.

He also reminded the staff and students of the need to protect the equipment provided by government to sustain the level of improvement of education in the country.