The only government-owned Primary School in Ilowo community at Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State is in a pitiable deplorable condition after the State Universal Basic Education Board in 2021 alone got N3 billion budget approval.
The deplorable school that was exposed by “Document Minority NG”, an NGO working for the wellbeing of marginalized communities, shows the school classroom blocks with leaking roofs, broken doors, and windows, while others are without windows at all.
It is not clear how the Ondo State SUBEB got N3 billion approval in the 2021 budget and the Ilowo community primary school continues to be in this pitiable deplorable condition.
Although MAWA-Foundation, could not immediately reach out to the Ondo State SUBEB Executive Chairman, a senior official in the agency who spoke to us but wants his identity concealed because he is not the right person to speak on the issue, said the deplorable condition of schools in rural communities in Ondo State is too huge to be left for SUBEB alone.
He added that the decay in education confronting Ondo State is one that requires a huge investment that must be monitored for results.
“The rot in education in Ondo is too huge to be addressed by SUBEB alone, huge investments and efficient monitoring of resource deployment for tangible results must be done by the state”, the official said.
Rural communities in Ondo state are drifting into a deplorable education standard even as the state in 2012 was ranked 5th Nigerian literacy state by UNESCO.
Ilowo community is not an exception, across the Nigerian state, public schools have since collapsed forcing parents who can afford it to send their kids to private schools.
Kids who do not come from privileged homes that cannot afford private education are allowed to school in public schools that are not properly funded by the government.
In Nigeria, the elites who have the financial muscle, send their kids to school abroad for a better and quality education. They do that because they know the Nigerian education system has since collapsed.
A development that is already stunting the nation’s growth and development, because the country is unable to produce its own human capital that will lead her development.