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Parents To Governor Ganduje Of Kano: Our Children Don’t Go To School During Rainy Season Because Of Leaky Roofs, Do Your Job

November 25, 2020

The condition of public schools has fallen through the cracks in Kano State. The schools are unfit for learning, characterised by lack of befitting classrooms, reports Abdulmalik Lukman, in his latest chronicle of infrastructure at schools in the state. Read his first story here.

The Government Girls Senior Islamic Secondary at Danzaki in Kano State teaches mainly Arabic and other Islamic texts to students who sit on dusty floors, with  each class having nearly 100  learners.

Lack of chairs and desks are not the only trouble that the girls, dressed in hijab, face. The school’s buildings have cracks in-between the walls and could collapse without reinforcement. 

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The students do not have access to clean water as the school’s borehole is moribound. They urinate and defecate around the overgrown grasses in the school’s messy surroundings. 

“The government has not been doing anything to promote the education of our children, but we keep hoping a better government will come that will revive Kano State public school," said a teacher who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to journalists. 


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Another school, Gwagwarwa Special Primary School, in Nasarawa Local Government of the state, has fallen into decay. 

Despite being the only public elementary school in the area, the ceilings have fallen off and the crowded classrooms lack chairs and desks. In some of the abandoned classes with leaky roofs, plants have grown therein. 

"After many years of neglect, students find it hard to study. So, the old students association of the school contributed money and built a block," said a resident of a nearby community who graduated from the school 10 years ago. 


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At the Government Senior Secondary Jogana, which is located Gezawa Local Government Area Kano State, the school has been forsaken by both the local and state government.

Jogana Senior Secondary School is one of the populous secondary schools at Jogana where parents mostly enrol their children after the completion of the junior secondary school.

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Some of the classes have perforated roofs which let in rain into the classes and force students to crowd in safe corners. 

"We don't know what we have done to the government that most of our schools are looking unkempt,” said a resident of the community where the school is located. “During the rainy season, our children sit back at home because some classes have no zinc, windows that will protect our children."

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Similar deterioration is also visible at the Government Junior Secondary School Jogana. The school does not have basic facilities like toilets. Classroom floors are broken and are substantially lacking in chairs and desks. 

"Effort has been made through approximate sources to appeal to the government to rehabilitate and build more classrooms in the compound, but for over three years, nothing has been done," said a community leader who spoke on the condition of anonymity. 

"Our pupils sit on the cold floor to take lessons, which damages their uniforms and also adds to the burden of their family members,” the community leader says.  “No good education facilities and materials; there is a lack of quality teachers. Corruption ruins the education system because I don't know where the education budget is being placed.

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"We are still calling on the government to support the Kano State education system so that our children will have better education and be the leaders of tomorrow.”

Another dilapidated school is the Special Government Primary School, Fagge in Kano metropolis.  Roofs of the classrooms have collapsed and rain forms a water pool inside the classes. 

During the rainy season, most students stop going to the school because rain water-logs their classes.  

"The bad situation of the school actually is a disaster to the students and their health,” said a teacher who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak for the school.  “Injuries are being recorded where a student will step on broken zinc or contaminated objects."

 

Schools Report is an initiative of the Civic Media Lab to check corruption in necessary education administration and demand accountability from the state and local governments.

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Education