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By Akanji Alowolodu, Bauchi
Eighty-nine years after it was established by the Colonia authorities in conjunction with the Missionaries, the story of Maiturare Primary School in Ningi, headquarters of Ningi LGA in Bauchi state remains pathetic as the entire school is opened due to lack of perimeter fencing thereby exposing the children to various forms of insecurity.
Apart from the issue of perimeter fencing, the school lack furniture in all the classrooms as pupils sit on the bare-floor to receive lessons while the teachers use the entire period standing.
Though the school which has a Junior Secondary School section has produced eminent Nigerians including the Emir of Ningi, Alhaji Yunusa Muhammadu Danyaya, Sen Abdul Ahmed Ningi and a host of others, the dilapidated structure is not telling the positive story of 1933 when it was established.
The school has however benefitted from various interventions particularly from UNICEF through the implementation of the Girl Education Project Phase 3 (GEP3) supported by Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) of the UK.
According to the Principal of the Junior Secondary School section, Dauda Samaila, the various training have really helped in the daily administration of the school saying that the enrollment has really improved.
He said that the population of the school presently stands at 1,616 comprising 784 boys and 832 girls showing great improvement on girls enrollment.
The training included safe school, psychosocial and roles of School Based Management Committee (SBMC) which have positively impacted in the standardized learning environment.
The Principal further said that the school management was able to pay exams fees for 5 of the students who could not afford the fees just as it met other needs of the students in order to keep them at school.
An area where tremendous improvement was made is guidance and counseling which has made the female students more bold to talk in public and have become most vocal in the classrooms activities.
The girls also learnt a lot in the area of hygiene particularly menstrual hygiene management which before then had subjected the girls to untold hardship not knowing how to handle the issue.
Also speaking, the Head Teacher of the Primary School section, Dada Buba expressed happiness that the various trainings they received under the project has improved their knowledge about school management.
She said that the school management immediately after the training, embarked upon girls enrollment campaigns which yielded positive results as the school now has more girls than boys who regularly attend school.
Dada Buba added that the school was able to sew uniforms for two pupils just as it intervened in other areas of pressing needs by the pupils just to keep them in school.
Both Chairmen of the SBMCs of the two schools lamented that in spite of the tremendous improvement in human resources of the schools, insecurity of the school has remained the major problem.
Chairman of the JSS SBMC, Ibrahim Baraya Aliyu said that, “We have made frantic efforts to get the entire school fenced but the efforts failed. Government is not looking in our direction to that effect. It has remained a problem”.
He added that many letters have been written to the SUBEB but nothing has been forthcoming from that end. We want our children to be protected so we are calling on the concerned authorities to act to save the situation.
On his part, Representative of the Primary School SBMC, Ahmed Sabo Yahaya who is also the PTA Chairman lamented that lack of perimeter fencing has remained the main problem of the school which has exposed the children to various forms of insecurity.
He cited as example that one day an Ox-driven cart ran over a 5 years old boy who was wounded but the rider did not show any remorse adding that motorcycle riders and car drivers go through the school compound at will thereby exposing the children to danger.
The two SBMCs leaders unanimously called on prominent indigenes of Ningi Emirate to come to the aid of the school in order to reduce the risk of insecurity of the children.
They particularly called on the Speaker of the Bauchi State House of Assembly, Abubakar Y Suleiman, Sen Abdul Ahmed Ningi, the Accountant General of Bauchi State, the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Abdulrazak Nuhu Zaki, Ningi LGC Chairman, Mamuda Tabla and others to use their influences to rescue the school.
