By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Jos – Pupils of the RCM Primary School, Pitop, Garkawa in the Mikang local government area of Plateau State are challenged by many things.

These children, some as young as four years are distracted by commuters and have mastered the art of watching out for oncoming motorcycles and passersby who have turned their school into a major thoroughfare.

The situation worsens each Tuesday as traffic increases due to the influx of people to the weekly market that borders the school premises.

Apart from the school serving as a shortcut for commuters, the large expanse of school land also serves as toilets for the pupils and the community which has fewer sanitary facilities and suffers water shortage. The only toilet facility in the school which should serve the teachers and pupils is under lock because there is no water for its use.

Also, the children are used to being squeezed into smaller spaces as pupils from the A and B arms of a class numbering over 50 are joined together for lessons due to the lack of teachers and classrooms for about 300 pupils.

The dilapidation has forced the Head Mistress, Mrs. Lengmwa Eleazer to shut some of the classes to prevent a child from being injured by falling debris.

A block of four classrooms renovated in 2017 is now dilapidated, and another one renovated in 2022 has cracked and is threatening to fall. The Head Mistress’ office is also in need of urgent repairs.

The 2017 renovation work done by a contractor identified as Goodison Park International saw the sum of N11,389,310 spent on it, information obtained from the State Bureau of Public Procurement revealed.

When this reporter visited the school on a monitoring exercise initiated by the Accountability Lab Nigeria through its Anti-Corruption Innovation Project, ACIP carried out in Plateau State in partnership with the Open Contracting Partnership with the support from the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, Mrs. Eleazer called for an urgent intervention from the State Universal Basic Education Board and all people of goodwill to remedy the situation.

“The 2017 renovated structure provided a better learning space at that time but a few years later, the structure requires repairs because the roof is leaking again and the floors need fixing.

“The school needs classes and teachers. We also have the issue of motorcyclists turning the school into a road due to the lack of a fence. This is a threat to pupils especially during break time. We need the school to be fenced to restrict the movement of motorcycles and people.

“The continuous movement doesn’t allow the children to concentrate during lessons. We also need a functional borehole so the children can get water,” she said.  

A teacher, Mrs. Hope Zitta added, “Children in class A and B of the same grade are joined together in a single class for lessons and there can be between 50 to 60 pupils. Renovating the structures will also allow us to have a staff room for the teachers.”

The Head Boy of the School, Gamalia Bari, a Primary Six pupil also called for assistance saying, “I want the government to help us renovate the school because the structures are bad. Anytime it rains, the roofs are leaking in almost all the classes. We are always afraid when the breeze blows so broken ceilings don’t fall on us.”

A Pitop community member, Israel Youmtri noted, “The school has served the community and the nearby communities for a very long time, if not that the structures were well constructed, they would have fallen by now.

“The Ministry of Education and SUBEB should come to our rescue. The Education Secretary in the local government has always said the situation has been reported but we have seen no improvement.”

However, the Coordinator of the Safe School Coordinating Office, Alex Ladan acknowledged the threat the lack of fence poses to schools in the State and assured schools are being mapped to see areas of intervention and discourage any form of safety and security breach.