Children of the Takpese community in kwali Area Council of Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory are learning under despicable conditions.
The government public primary school kids in the community and other neighboring villages depend on for their formal education has since collapsed, forcing the kids to learn under despicable conditions.
A visit to the school that was first exposed by Tracka, a public accountability organization, shows how the kids are learning under classroom blocks that are near collapse with fallen windows and ceilings.
Because of the terrible nature of classrooms, kids have been evacuated from some classrooms and jam-packed in a single classroom.
For instance, primary 1,2&3 pupils share one classroom while those in 4,5&6 share one classroom.
The Takpese community primary school has continued to be this deplorable even as the Federal Capital Territory Education Secretariat has a core mandate to provide quality education for residents of the Federal Capital Territory.
A senior official of the FCT Education Secretariat who spoke to MAWA-Foundation through a telephone conversation, and does not want his identity unveiled, blamed the deplorable condition of public schools in FCT on poor funding of education.
“Many people out there do not know, education is poorly funded in Nigeria, no matter how good your innovation is regarding revamping education, there is nothing you can do without funding,” the official said.
However, no matter the reasons by the FCT Education Secretariat, no child should be allowed to learn under this despicable condition.
Worse still, despite the awful condition of the school, it has 478 pupils who learn under a very terrible condition.
Mr. Sunday, a teacher in one of the public schools in FCT who prefers only his first name mentioned, blamed the poor quality of education in FCT on corruption.
According to Mr. Sunday, a huge amount of money is being expended on education in FCT annually, but there is nothing to show for it.
“Do not believe their lies, the only reason we have this kind of terrible poor education in public schools in FCT is corruption, who takes the monies approved for education, how do they deploy the funds?” Sunday asked MAWA.
If the neglect of education continues in Nigeria and the government is not ready to make huge investments to quickly revitalize it, the country is not likely to produce manpower with the required skills and capacity to bring growth and development.
And, when a country does not make efforts to train qualified manpower that will pilot its growth and development, there is the likelihood of unemployment, and the implication is a rise in insecurity and an increase in crime rate.
This is common in communities across Nigeria