infrastructural development, particularly under the immediate past administration of former governor. The miserable life in the said community is a complete contrast with what obtains in most others around the state. Lacking every basic amenity, it looks every bit like abandoned habitat.
Teachers have since deserted the community primary school, abandoning the pupils. Parents who can afford the bills are now compelled to relocate their children to the private primary schools in the area. He said: “Before the school started having problems of dilapidated buildings and lack of teachers, the pupils were very many and all the classrooms were filled up. But when they were coming to school and there were no teachers to teach them, coupled with lack of needed facilities to arouse their interest, they stopped coming.”
But Samuel says the entire community is still begging the government to intervene and bring back the primary school. He said the situation had increased the number of children lacking interest in education. Apart from the primary school, the condition of Community Secondary School Umuozoche has also deteriorated. Although skeletal academic activities are still ongoing in the school, evidence that it will soon suffer the fate of the primary school is glaring.
“When it rains in school, we would be running helter-skelter because the roof for this block that the community managed to repair is still faulty. It will soak the books of the students and no learning will take place because the classrooms will be flooded and impossible to manage because of the water. It’s really not funny.”
“Going to the bush to ease yourself is dangerous. We usually encounter reptiles and some other things could happen. “To come here once costs between N3,000 and N4,000. Multiply that by how many days. So it’s really not funny. Another secondary school teacher, who also spoke in confidence, said many teachers abandoned the school, leaving a few of them to teach all subjects and all classes even outside their areas of specialization.
“For us, we saw that leaving this place was not the best thing to do and we decided to remain, and that is making us spend more than N3,000 daily based on the current economic challenges. He said: “When the rain is falling, it leaks from the sheets into the classrooms, and sometimes we even run from one desk to the other for safety