Nearly one year after the Bayelsa State government promised students of Gbarain-owei Grammar School in Yenagoa Local Government Area provision of school chairs, the chairs are yet to be seen, forcing the students to continue to improvise with makeshift seats others brace the windows to learn in one of the richest oil states in the country.
A visit to the school months after the executive promise by National Point reveal that there were still no chairs from the government for the students. What is available are some wooden benches provided by parents of the students, who contributed N1000 each to construct the benches.
Declaring that education is the bed rock of any society, the immediate past governor of the state, now Senator Henry Seriake Dickson. placed education on the emergency list and even declared education free from primary to secondary school in the state. That was in his first tenure but before he left office, all that stopped.
All over the state, there are numerous schools operating without basic amenities and teachers, especially in the hinterlands, do not stay if posted to those schools. Most of the schools are in a state of dilapidation, roofs crying for attention, empty laboratories where available, no chairs, broken windows, among others.
Gbarain-owei Grammar School has produced some notable personalities like Chubuike Amaechi, former Rivers State governor and Transport minister, the current Bayelsa State commissioner for Education, Gentle Emelah among others yet it is in a sorry state but its deplorable state except for the recently erected buildings that does not have any equipment inside.
At the school that has been in existence for more than forty years, apart from the current structures, all other facilities like the generator, the laboratory, the dormitory and other things are in a state of decay.
Established in 1973 with its first set of graduates passing out in 1975, things have not been rosy for the school as students keep deserting the school because of the deteriorating state of things there. The few left are trapped because their parents do not have needed resources to transfer them to better schools.
Situated on a very massive piece of land of about 20 hectares with more than 20 solidly built blocks not more than 20 minutes’ drive from Government House, Yenagoa, the school which was originally along the road to Okolobiri General Hospital and very close to the State Universal Basic Education, SUBEB office before it was relocated is now almost lying desolate with just a few students attending.
At an earlier visit to the school by this publication on a very rainy day, the students were writing their promotional examination sitting on the bare floor with many of the students jam-packed in the few available chairs.
The walkway was very slippery with bushes and grasses taking over everywhere but, on a recent visit, the walkway has been elevated a bit with mud dug out from the surrounding environment by the students according to one of the teachers. At the supposed staff room, teachers were seen standing outside, most of them selling their wares.
Other than the slight work on the walkway, nothing has really changed.
Vice Principal of the school then who said he is from Ogboloma community just around the school environment, told this publication he schooled in Gbarain-owei Grammar School but that things were different then.
He said “On reaching here, it was so bad. Although it was government approved system then we decided to board because the facilities were there. As close as Ogboloma is, I was forced to board. What we did was that we only cooked for ourselves then. Our parents bought stoves and then we cooked inside the school. And we never lacked anything, sitting desks all those things, laboratories; in fact a lot of things were here”.
He was shocked at the new state of affairs there. ”When I was transferred to this place, I was so surprised that the school I graduated from has deteriorated to this state.
“We decided to set up a laboratory. Then the next challenge we had was this sitting desk for students because, particularly the junior students, they are small children. They sat on the floor taking lessons while the seniors sat on the windows because the windows too have no lock”.
The school is in that poor state not because those in authority have not been notified.
“We went to SUBEB and pleaded with them to use their office to help us with chairs. They said we should make it official and write them. In fact, we have written I think two or three times but we see SUBEB carrying chairs to other schools”, the VP lamented. That forced the school leadership to calling on the parents.
“That has been our plight. Since they refused to give us chairs, we said we cannot sit down like that. We decided to invite parents through the PTA meeting. In the meeting, parents now agreed that they will contribute the sum of N1000 each so that we use it to work some chairs. Even at that too, most of the students have not been able to pay but we were able to get some money and so we have about 50 chairs. It is those 50 chairs that we are managing now”.
Explaining further, the VP said the school once had plastic chairs which have all gone bad.
“This school has been on but, I don’t really understand how it got to this level. From the information that I gathered, there was once they brought some plastic chairs but even at that they said it was not enough. Those chairs are not strong and now the chairs have gone bad.
“They are writing WAEC in the school up there now but what really made the children to sit on the floor to that level is because this time around, the promotion exam is coinciding with the WAEC and of course you don’t allow WAEC students to sit on the floor to write. So when we give the required number to the WAEC candidates, majority of the students what do they do? They sit on the floor”.
On other social amenities available, he said there is provision for electricity, while a borehole in the premises has been vandalized.
“They said one of the federal law makers drilled a bore hole here but, it is not working even, thieves have come to vandalize it. There is light, if they bring.
“Another problem we have is that we have just one security personnel even that one too, the principal has written severally to them. They said there is embargo on employment; both night and day, only one person. The man will only manage to come and stay till the close of school and he will go and sometimes come back to stay for a while and go. He cannot guard the whole of this compound alone”.
The school is calling for the intervention of the state government to save it from extinction and help the students access quality education.
“We need state government’s swift intervention particularly in the area of provision of desks for our students and then this walkway is another problem and then to rehabilitate the already dilapidated buildings. If they do that, it will bring back the students”, the administrator stated.
A senior student in SS2, Isaac Egbe said, “We are sitting on the windows because of lack of chairs. There are no ceilings and since I came to this school right from JS1 that I came to this school, I noticed it.
More than three years now right from SS1, we have been like that and we have no choice.
“We want government to provide chairs for us. We also need cutting machines to cut our field for our sporting activities”.
Another, a female student, Ebi Kpun said “For me I don’t like it. We are girls and we are not supposed to be sitting on the bare floor but what can we do.? We are begging the state government to please help us at least with chairs first. then other things will follow”.
Information Commissioner, Ayibaina Duba in his reaction said: “What you said you saw is shocking to me because first of all, I have not been there for years. So, I won’t know the present state of the place but what you are telling me is shocking. Several years ago when I was a student, there was a walkway and the school was fenced some years back. Then I remember vividly while a student, there was a walkway.
It was the exco that mandated the ministry to go round, so that we know what exactly the issues are in the education sector. I’m sure that the ministry after that exercise is not resting.
Even if you speak with the Commissioner for Education, he will tell you that these are things they are conversant with. Mind you, there are so many secondary and primary schools in this state. I can authoritatively tell you that these issues are not unknown to the government”’.
That reaction took place last year when this correspondent visited the school for the first time but,nearly one after, despite the Bayelsa State government awareness of the plight of the students, no action has been taken.
One of teachers pleaded: “Please still help us remind the government that we are still waiting for the chairs. You know Nigerian government, bottlenecks and the rest of them. Something they will do in one week, will take three years.
“The primary thing is chairs and a conducive environment where they can stay and learn but, all those things are not here”.
Mr Jonah Saturday, principal of the school while responding to the current condition of the school said he met the school in that deplorable state and despite notifying the authorities as advised, there has been no response.
“When I came, I also met the situation like that. They said we should apply, I applied. We are still expecting till now. So, I called for a PTA meeting, the parents came, we met and resolved that PTA should intervene and every parent paid N1000 each which we used to secure those chairs.
“Although the chairs are not enough they are better than nothing. I even met with the king of this Kingdom, Fumpere Akah and he called the Ministry of Education, yet nothing. We have even met with the executive secretary SUBEB and we appealed to the honourable member in charge of this constituency (Hon Ebiuwou Koku Obiyai). She also promised but, up till now nothing.
While the school waits for seats, the students suffer, for not only are they unable to learn in comfort, their teachers can also not give their best as they cannot all be in school at the same time because of the limited number of seats available there.
Narrating the ordeal of the teachers, one of the teachers informed: “If all the teachers come to school same day, some will be standing. Leave the free education matter. They said they have spent billions but the billions are we seeing it? Even if it is not free education, there are basic things you need to provide”.
The likelihood of youth misbehaviour was raised as possible cause for neglect of Gbarain-owei Grammar School.
Another teacher stated: “The information I had was that there was a time they were bringing chairs to this school and community boys blocked them during Dickson’s time. They blocked and said except they pay them money, they would not allow them. So, the information got to Dickson and the Ministry said if that is the case, let them leave them. Since then till now nothing. I don’t know whether it was the governor that gave the order. It was because of what the community boys did that they have refused to bring chairs to this school. So, if they are bringing chairs, they should come with good security”.
Contacted, the Education Commissioner, Gentle Emelah informed this correspondent on Whatsapp that the state government is expecting chairs. The message read ” We are expecting chairs. Hopefully before resumption of first term, we should”.
Also, the member representing Yenagoa Constituency 2 in the state House of Assembly, Hon Ebiuwou Koku Obiyai told this reporter on phone that she had no comment.
King of the Gbarain kingdom Funpere Akah angrily shouted on this reporter on phone when contacted, “Will you stop disturbing me with this? If you are a journalist why not go and meet the Commissioner for Education. Am I the owner of that school?”
The executive secretary of the state UBE, directly responsible for managing part of the school, could not be reached at the time of filing in this report.
