Rivers State made an audacious investment in primary and secondary education with the construction of 24 world class model secondary schools and over 250 international model primary schools. The schools which were built between 2007 to 2014, were equipped with modern boarding facilities and state of the art learning and teaching aids. While each of the schools constructed in the upland local government areas gulped the sum of N106million each, those built in the riverine LGAs were constructed at the sum of N117million each. Each of the schools also had functional laboratories, well equipped libraries, ICT and sporting facilities.
The primary schools also had a well-organized nursery section, and class size for each of the schools complied with acceptable teacher-student ratio of one teacher to 30 students. The investment which improved the ranking of the state in several national and international education indexes also made the state at that time, a tourism destination for local and international policy makers in the education sector.
An assessment of the sector in the last seven years has however revealed a deteriorating trend for the sector. A visit to the schools shows that most of the schools bequeathed to the current administration suffer from major funding challenges which have led to the dilapidation of teaching and learning facilities in the schools. The sector has also suffered major infrastructural deficit. Most of the schools grapple with large class sizes due to lack of new classroom blocks to respond to the upsurge in new student admissions. These and other structural challenges have become the latest negative profiles bedevilling the sector in the state. Instructively, the findings call to question the over N300billion budgetary provisions the state has made towards the education sector in the last seven years.
Late December 2015, the Rivers State government said it was “scaling up resources to enhance the quality of…education at all levels.” In his address to the Rivers State House of Assembly, the governor, Nyesom Wike said his administration will give priority attention to vocational and entrepreneurial education to provide life-long skills to young people in order to be gainfully employed and self-sustaining.
To achieve this the governor informed that his administration intended to complete and rehabilitate more secondary schools and pilot the re-introduction of boarding facilities in public secondary education. In June 2019, the governor also abolished the payment of school fees and all other forms of levies in government owned primary and secondary schools.
In a meeting with heads of primary schools and principals of secondary schools, the Rivers State Senior Secondary Schools Board and Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board, the governor accused principals and head teachers of illegal fees collection. He warned that no child either in the state primary or secondary schools, should pay fees and levies across the state. The governor further extended the ban on fees collection to NECO, WAEC and other examination fees. He also promised that, “Government will work out grants that will be sent to the schools for their regular management and operations.”
Years after the governor’s promise, an investigation into how government funds the education sector shows otherwise. A visit to some primary and secondary schools in the state shows some gory realities that depict lamentation and hopelessness for both teachers and students. Findings from our investigation revealed that primary and secondary schools in Rivers State suffer massive under-funding despite huge budgetary allocations to the education sector since 2015. From our findings, five major existential threats are plaguing the cohesion of primary and secondary education in the state. They include: infrastructural dearth, lack of administrative funding, low morale of teachers, lack of teaching and learning aids, and systematic extortion of students by teachers. The findings also revealed that there is a lack of adequate teachers to cater for the student population across schools despite the employment of 10,000 teachers by the Chibuike Amaechi administration.
An analysis of the various challenges reveals further gory details that if not addressed, may completely lead to the collapse of the primary and secondary education sector in the state. Infrastructural dearth:
Dilapidated infrastructure, large class sizes and disoriented academic environment were the challenges that greeted this correspondent during his visit to primary and secondary schools Teachers who spoke on condition of anonymity stated that the large classes are indication of the lack of new classroom blocks. They said since the return of some major primary and secondary schools to missionaries by the Peter Odili government, the sector has suffered infrastructural deficit, as no new schools were built to mitigate the gap created except for the schools built under the Amaechi administration. They stated that despite the additional schools built under that administration, the challenge of large class sizes still persist because many parents withdrew their wards from the missionary schools to the available public schools due to exorbitant charges by the missionary schools. Also, the Amaechi schools accommodated less the number of students it originally had in many instances.
National Point further discovered that Government Comprehensive Secondary School, Borokiri, Enitonna High School, Port Harcourt, Pabod Model Secondary School, Port Harcourt, and Government Secondary School U.P.E, Community Secondary School Rumuolumeni, Community Primary School Azuabiye, and others, face an unprecedented upsurge in student enrolment every academic session due to inadequate number of government schools that can accommodate the student population within their locations.
For instance, in Pabod Model Secondary School and Government Secondary School, Borokiri, all classes were over-crowded with students numbering not less than 250 to 300 per class. The Senior Secondary 2BI (SS2BI) in Pabod Model Secondary School had more than 300 students while BII and C combined, share over 400 students. The Senior Secondary 3A (SS3A) which is for science students has a total number of 201 students. SS3B and C, have a combined number of 219 students. This is a direct contravention of the average 30-40 students per class and students to teacher ratio recommended by policy makers.
Lack of administrative funding is a major challenge. A vice principal in one of the schools mentioned earlier confided in this publication that, the government no longer provides funding support for administrative purposes which includes management of the schools. She said many head teachers and principals fund the schools from three sources which include: Parents Teachers Association (PTA) levies, student levies and personal sources.
Corroborating her claim, several other teachers informed that the situation has become dire as many teachers provide teaching aids like markers, dusters, pen, white boards, etc. from their personal income.
They alleged that the schools board which has the responsibility to provide the teaching aids do not consider requests for teaching aids from head teachers or principals. They also complained that many schools have become over-grown by bushes which now breed reptiles. In another school, a female teacher who conducted this correspondent round her school toilets which were unattended to as a result of lack of funds to enable purchase of toilet cleaners such as hypo, bleach, etc.,informed that female students regularly contract infection after using the toilets. In order to avoid infection, she said many students and teachers prefer to defecate in the bush which also comes with some dangerous challenges.
Lack of teaching and learning aids present a major obstacle to learning in the schools visited. One of the most repeated complaints by teachers was the lack of teaching and learning aids. One major challenge in most of the schools visited, was the lack of school desks for students. At Pabod Model Secondary School in particular, some students narrated how they regularly fight with each other over the few available desks in their class rooms.
Watching them with smiles on their faces as they marched into their class rooms, not knowing who will get a desk to sit down for convenient learning experience, it comes with mixed feelings even as a reporter that there still exists a school so lacking in infrastructure located in the heart of the capital of a state that ranks as the second richest state in Nigeria. Rivers State has a Gross Domestic Product. GDP of $ 21.17billion and a per capita income of $3,965.
It was more heart breaking hearing the children roar with patriotism from their devotion ground, with a song that says “We saw a lion driving in a car and the lion was shouting for liberty in the name of Nigeria.” They sang the song in their innocence and without a doubt that Nigeria is a great country. However, their song was not without anxiety as shown all over their faces, perhaps having the inkling that leadership has failed them. Their anxiety for uninformed observers could be linked to perhaps the harsh economic realities that continue to bite the livelihoods of their parents which have become a potent threat to their academic aspirations. But, to those who are aware of the stark realities within their learning environment, the anxiety of the students has to do with the too many challenges the students grapple with within their school environment.
In response to a question on how their fights over desks is usually resolved, the students informed that while the fights last, other students run to their teachers to make formal complaints. They also casually told me that fights over desks are normal occurrence, but expressed the hope that help may soon come their way. Their story painted a gory picture which indicates that the few available desks are only for the strongest. They said to get a desk to sit and learn, you must be brutish, bullish, and dangerously daring, to earn the fear of fellow students. On the nature of response that they get from their teachers after their complaints, one student casually said jokingly: “Ehhnn…they will come and be shouting; “There is no permanent chair, everybody is allowed to sit anywhere.”
In 2021, the Pabod Model Secondary School administrators compelled each student to pay the sum of N2500 for the purchase of school desks. The students alleged that the desks were yet to be produced and that no staff has offered any explanation on why the desks have not been produced. A chat with some students across various classes revealed their frustration and disappointment. Some of the students feel dejected and blamed their parents for sending them to a public school. Some students also blamed their plight on fate, as they lamented that they were in the school because their parents are poor.
An attempt to discuss the development with the school [rincipal proved unsuccessful. However, one of the vice principals and a senior teacher confirmed the payment of the levy by students for the production of desks but, showed me some desks which they said were produced from the monies collected. On why they had to resort to levying students to pay for their school desks, the teachers explained they did not have any choice since the government had failed in its responsibility. They also said the development was also affecting their performance as teachers, stating that most times it was even difficult for teachers to navigate the classroom when students are seated on the floor.
Asked why only a small number of desks were produced, they claimed that more chairs would still be produced.
Just like the students, our investigation also revealed that teachers in the school use their personal income to buy their chairs and tables. Sadly, the situation in Pabod Model Secondary School is just one of many. Other schools where pupils still sit on the floor to learn. There are more of such in schools located in the rural areas.
A visit to some other schools and interviews with teachers revealed that the situation is not different. At the Government Secondary School, Borikiri, the situation is even worse, as many students were seen sitting on the floor and windows. For reason of the number of students, most of the schools are structured into two sessions- morning and afternoon session. The morning session starts at 8am to 11.30am, while the afternoon session begins at 12pm to end at 4pm. Most of the students seen returning from the morning session had their uniforms stained with black dirt which they also linked to variants from soot from ‘kpo-fire’ (illegal bunkering) heavily present on the school floor.
Systematic extortion of students by teachers is a reality. It appears the school segment that bears the greater burden of the dearth of funding are the students. All the students who spoke to our correspondent stated that they were regularly asked to pay levies for school makers, dusters and inks. While some students said their teachers did not make the levies compulsory, others said their teachers even flogged those who did not pay. National Point also confirmed that each student sitting for the current WASCE in Enitonna High School and Pabod Model Secondary School, were asked to pay the sum of N1000 for each paper.
Asked the purpose of that payment, some students said they were told the money was for external supervisors, while others said they were not told why they were asked to pay N1000.Confirming the allegations, some teachers who spoke on conditions of anonymity justified the extortion and blamed the development on the Universal Basic Education and Senior Secondary Schools Boards for their failure to provide the needed work tools that can aid teaching and learning in the schools.
They said the schools boards whose responsibility it is to furnish the schools with work tools such as dusters, makers, diaries, result booklets, etc., have abdicated their responsibilities to the teachers. Some teachers however explained that school principals and head teachers creatively fund the administrative costs of the schools through compulsory Parents Teachers Association (PTA) levies.
On why students sitting for the current WASCE were asked to pay N1000 despite the warning of the governor against levies, a teacher said the government failed to do its part. “Is it just to warn? He should make money available to run the schools,” the teacher responded. Asked if the money is for the day to day running of the schools, the teacher simply said, “You can tie it to anything.”
Low morale of teachers is a pervasive reality: Almost all the teachers that spoke with this correspondent said they are discouraged by the situation of things in the sector. They cited excess deductions from their salaries, lack of promotion, and non-payment of statutory allowances in the last seven years by the government as part of the many reasons why they are discouraged.
A cross section of the teachers spoken to, do not know their salary grade levels and steps. In addition, most teachers do not know their statutory monthly salary due myriad of deductions and the non-issuance of pay slips by the schools board. The teachers lamented that their situation was further compounded by the failure of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) and Senior Schools Boards to regularly issue them pay slips. On further enquiry over the non-issue of regular pay slips, they said the schools board made the collection of pay slip tedious by making it mandatory for teachers to go to the computer department at the board to be able to obtain the pay slip. They bemoaned the process and queried why their pay slips cannot be sent through the head teachers and principals. They alleged that corruption is the main reason why the board made the collection of pay slips a tedious task.
Lack of adequate teachers to cater for the student population: A broad based discussion with teachers revealed that the challenges of inadequate teachers to cater for the student population across both primary and secondary schools in the state emanated from the lack of strategic posting of the 10,000 teachers employed under the last administration across schools. A lot of teachers who were posted to primary schools said they didn’t know why they were posted to primary schools while some who were posted to secondary schools said they would have preferred the primary schools. Many of the teachers who were posted to schools in rural areas also admitted that they do not report for duties as mandated by law.
The result of this mismanaged affair is that schools in the rural areas are highly bereft of teachers. Some rely heavily on Youth Corpers posted under the National Youth Service Corps NYSC.
Although the truant teachers agreed that their absence has a negative implication for the students, they decried the lack of extra incentive for those posted to remote areas. They argued that it is wrong for the government to post them to rural areas at the same amount of pay, with their counterparts in urban schools.
Giving reasons for their failure to report to their duty posts as at when due, some of them posted to riverine communities claimed that their phobia for river travel was their major challenge. They claimed that although according to the provisions of their employment letters which states that transfer from their current location can only be considered after a two year probationary service, applications for transfer several years after their period of probation were yet to be considered by the relevant boards. They also alleged that there were some teachers who got transferred out of their rural postings without fulfilling the two year probationary mandate.
They claimed that in spite of their irregular resumption in their duty post, arrangements are in place to mitigate the consequences of their absence. While some said they made arrangements with some NYSC members with the permission of the head teachers and principals, others said they only report on duty on their subject period days.
Irregular oversight visits and lack of impact by Supervisors: Eighty per cent (80%) of the teachers who were interviewed informed that although supervisors from the various boards visit the schools for oversight functions, their visits hardly yield any tangible result in terms of resolution of complaints made by teachers. They also informed that schools in the rural areas are hardly visited by these supervisors. The lack of regular visit by supervisors accounts for the major reason why many teachers in the rural areas do not take their jobs seriously.
National Point investigation reveal a trouble reality of ghost migrant schools in Rivers State. During several visits to the boards for data for this report, two sources who are staff of the Senior Secondary School Board, confided in this correspondent that many schools called special ‘Migrant Fishermen Schools’ “only exist on paper.” They informed that most of the migrant fishermen schools serve as a conduit for Education Ministry officials who use it to syphon public funds. National Point spoke to some teachers at Girls State Primary School, Okrika and Community Primary School, Oluk-Ama, Andoni LGA, on their knowledge of the existence of migrant schools. Even though they all confirmed the existence of such schools, they expressed doubt about their locations. An analysis of the list of schools obtained from the UBE board, shows that Okrika alone has not less than 10 migrant schools.
The teachers also informed that they face challenges of cultism, lesbianism and homosexuality. In Government Comprehensive Secondary School, teachers said they are beginning to witness rising cases of homosexuality amongst students. Although they stated that the former principal applied serious disciplinary measures against those found wanting, there are still unconfirmed reports of homosexuality amongst students.
At Government Secondary School, UPE, some teachers confirmed that there had been cases of sexual harassment of female students by teachers. They said in late 2021, a teacher got an SS1 student impregnated. It was further revealed that though the teacher was transferred from the school, his victim was taken to his house by the girl’s parents and school authorities where she eventually stayed until she gave birth.
Our investigation revealed that the teacher was not sacked but was merely transferred out of the school.
This report revealed negligence, corruption and abandonment of care by duty bearers. An analysis of the state of things in the various schools visited and testimonies by teachers, students and staff from the various boards, all indicates that the Rivers State government no longer funds primary and secondary education in the state. Most of the model schools built under the last administration have now been overtaken by bushes, broken glasses and ceilings, leaking roofs and general structural decay. The schools no longer have functional computer and science laboratories and sporting facilities, thus denying the few students accommodated therein, the extra learning opportunity intended. The testimonies from teachers also depict that of bravery and commitment in the face of lack of government presence in the sector.
Although it could be argued that there is significant improvement in the tertiary sector in terms of significant investment under the current administration, the story is however a complete opposite for the primary and secondary sector. Government needs to urgently move in to revamp the sector. The general feeling is that the state government needs to probe the various boards for alleged corruption in order to salvage what is left of the sector.
Getting the official response to our report was tedious. Our investigation took us to the office of the head of Administration of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Board, office of the permanent secretary, Ministry of Education and office of the head of service, for comments on all the issues.
We were told to apply to the executive chairman of the Board before we could get a response from the Board. Similarly, at the Ministry of Education, we were directed to the head office for comments by the acting permanent secretary who insisted that by law, civil servants are prohibited from issuing statements or interviews. He stated that only the state head of service can comment on issues concerning the service which includes the ministry of education.
Efforts at the office of the Head of Service Office proved abortive as he was either away on official assignments or in a meeting according to his secretary.
However, a management staff at the UBE who pleaded anonymity, confirmed our findings. He informed that the last time primary and secondary schools in Rivers State received fund or administrative support was two years ago. He informed that the board is currently battling with acute shortage in teachers and infrastructural development.
He described head teachers and principals as “hypocritical” on their complaints over lack of administrative support from the state government. He said most head teachers and principals mismanage revenue accrued from rentals from the use of school properties which he said the board does not interfere with. He also accused officials of the Ministry of Education and Senior Secondary Schools Board as very “corrupt,” noting that a lot of the findings from our investigation are aided and abated by ministry officials.
He said, “For instance the N1000 per paper you said they are charging WAEC students, is even small, if the paper is either English Language or Mathematics. We have also received that report but they do it with ministry and official officials.” He corroborated our findings of wider official examination malpractices in the just concluded WAEC Examination and current National Examination Council (NECO) Exams.
