Shau’yau Islamiya, a public government-owned school is in an unimaginably deplorable condition despite the Nasarawa State government having allocated N34.7billion to education last year.
The school that is located in Lafia East, the Nasarawa State capital is so despicable that one feels the imagination of a zoo where animals are kept when reflecting on it.
A visit to the school that was first exposed by Mr. BA Nata’alah, a community resident, shows kids sitting on a bare floor in classrooms. Apart from the kids sitting on the floor, the classrooms have leaking roofs and broken windows.
The Shau’yau Islamiya school has continued to be this deplorable even as the Nasarawa state government in 2021 allocated N34.7billion to education.
An amount the state government claims to be expended on education, science, and ICT.
It is unclear how the Nasarawa State government deployed N34.7billion allocated to education and the Shau’yau Islamiya school is still this deplorable.
Although the state government had claimed the huge amount is meant for an improvement of education in the state, the Shau’yau Islamiya school where many of the children especially those from poor homes is yet to witness any improvement.
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Ozeh Uzoma Maureen, reacting to the terrible nature of the school, says it has continued to be deplorable for decades with no government making any effort to fix it.
“That school has been like that over decades, no improvement of any sort and yet each government will be praising themselves on achievements, come to rural areas you will shed tears for those children,” Maureen said.
Miss Blessing Ewuga, another Nasarawa resident speaking on the despicable nature of the school, disclosed that deplorable schools are littered all over the state. She, however, said the situation in Akwanga one of the biggest local government areas in the state is worse compared to that of Shau’yau Islamiya.
“This classroom even looks conducive unlike some public schools in Akwanga,” Ewuga said.
The implication is that, if Nasarawa State continues to allow public schools to be this deplorable, many children, particularly those from poor homes will be denied access to quality education. And, this has a dire consequence on the nation’s development.
If schools in Nasarawa and other communities in Nigeria are allowed to be in this deplorable condition, Nigeria’s chances of achieving SDGs goal 4 (quality education) will be very much impossible.
MAWA could not immediately reach out to the Nasarawa State government for an official response.