Yolamchi Ukaga, Aba
Civil Society Action Coalition on Education (CSACEFA), a non-governmental organisation, has condemned the condition of Abia public primary and secondary schools, describing it as deplorable.
Mrs. Eunice Egbuna, coordinator, CSACEFA, South-East Zone, who made the observation in Aba, at the weekend, at the commemoration of “Global Action Week on Education”, stressed that the current condition of most primary and secondary schools in the state, are shocking and unbelievable.
Speaking on the theme, “Education Financing,” Egbuna vowed that the level of infrastructural decay and neglect of welfare of teachers, in Abia public schools was nothing to write home about.
According to her, “If I’m to rate the current standard of education in Abia, using our primary and secondary schools, I’ll say that it’s below 40 percent. Administration, environment, teachers’ welfare; in fact, everything is wrong with our schools,” she stated.
She stated that majority of the public schools lacked the qualities of schools.
In her words, “There are no toilet facilities in most of the schools. Teachers and pupils ease themselves in the bush.
“There are few schools in the state with boreholes, which were donated by individuals or groups. Majority of the schools don’t have water.”
Egbuna stated that majority of the public schools did not have libraries, noting that what they called libraries were simply a room in the school, where outdated books of no academic relevance to modern day education were kept.
She frowned at the inability of the Abia state government to access the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) grant that would enable it improve the infrastructure of primary and secondary schools in the state.
Egbuna, who is also Abia state chapter coordinator of CSACEFA, described as worrisome the inability of Abia state to pay its counterpart fund, to enable the state access UBEC marching grants to help improve basic education.
“Abia does not access the Universal Basic Education Fund, because it has not been able to pay 50 percent counterpart fund to enable it access the fund that can help them do many things in primary education.
“It is on record that Abia could not access UBEC fund in 2011, 2012, 2017, 2018, 2019.
These grants are there. All you need to do, is to pay the counterpart fund and access the entire money. It is important because it can help solve the problem of decay of infrastructure.
“You see students and pupils writing on the floor; some of them sharing one seat just to have a place to learn. How do you watch, teach and control exam malpractice?
The CSACEFA coordinator also lamented that lack of retraining of teachers, aimed at updating and upgrading their knowledge on current and modern way of teaching, was not ideal for students and the society at large.
This was just as she also frowned at the conversion of public school premises to markets and churches, and urged the state government to investigate the allegation.
She observed that the poor state of public schools had given rise to establishment of mushroom and quack private schools that people now see as alternatives to the collapsed public school system in the state.