The people of Ofunmwegbe (known as Okada junction) in Ovia South West local government Area of Edo State have called on the Edo State government to come to their aide and rebuild the only primary and secondary schools in the community which are in dilapidated state.
They also lamented that several appeals in the past have not been given a positive response even as they decry situations where pupils sit on bare floors to receive lectures besides insufficient teachers in the schools.
Lamenting the poor state of the schools, chairman of the Community Governance Council (CGC), Comrade Imuentinyan Ighodaro said the poor state of the school has led to parents withdrawing their wards from the school.
The CGC was set up by the Koyenum Immalah Foundation which is implementing a project known as Agents for Citizens driven Transformation (ACT) titled citizens participation in Governance supported by the British Council to act on behalf of the community on governance issues. The programme is being overseen by the Network on Good Governance (NGG).
He said the primary school was founded in 2006 with the community donating the land and paid 10 per cent counterpart fund to build the school and thereafter donated furniture while the secondary was built in
He said “The school was not fenced and that has made it possible for hoodlums to also go in there and vandalise the place. As we speak, there are no windows and all the roofs have gone bad, no ceilings, no chairs and the children right now sit on the bare floor to learn and because of that so many parents are also withdrawing their children from the school. The floors are also broken. The whole of the school is in very bad shape. We have a block of six classrooms and another block of five classrooms. We have government teachers there.
“As a matter of urgency, we want the government to come to our aid and put the school in order for our children. They should renovate it and fence it to give it security and stop hoodlums from coming in, and if the government is able to do that, the community will provide security. It is the same situation in secondary school.”
Checks at the State Universal Basic Education Board (SBEB) indicated that the state government was “adopting a holistic approach to schools rehabilitation and not a one-off thing” , said a staff member who would not want his name in print.
