· Schools resort to corps members, PTA teachers to bridge gap
· Abuja votes N13.1bn for toilets, furniture for schools
By Sarah NEGEDU
Schools in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have been forced to stretch their facilities to accommodate the inflow of pupils fleeing their states due to insecurities.
Secretary of the FCTA Education Secretariat, Dr Danlami Hayyo, ascribed the overcrowding across schools in the six area councils to banditry and the alarming security situation in some of the neighbouring states.
Hayyo, at a recent media parley, disclosed that issues of banditry and insurgency in neighbouring Niger, Kaduna and some other northern states, had forced schools to resort to youth corps members and PTA teachers to bridge the gap in students to teachers ratio.
“Part of the challenges just like you have stated about PTA teachers, because of the quality of education in FCT and maybe the security situation of some neighborhood states that makes FCT schools to become congested.
“So many parents run into the FCT from part of Kaduna, Kwara, Niger, Nasarawa, Kogi, Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Kebbi, Borno, Yobe because of banditry.
“So, this makes FCT schools to be congested, and whenever there is congestion, when you divide the number of staff and the number of student, there must be an unequal distribution of the teachers in the FCT. That’s why you have seen a lot of PTA teachers because schools are supposed to be managed and governed with community interventions.
“If the government cites a school in a place, definitely the community of the school should keep their support within the management of these institutions cited in the area,” Hayyo said.
He, however, assured that there was no harm when PTA teachers were supporting the public teachers in the public schools, saying this kind of collaboration was required for the management of FCT schools.
He also expressed that the FCT Administration was responding to the problem of out of school children, which is now going to about 13 million children across the country by establishing temporary shelters through collaboration with agency for mass education whereby youth or these out of school children are trained on skill acquisition, and so many things.
The secretary also disclosed that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has approved the sum of N13.1 billion for the renovation and construction of new toilets and provision of furniture across secondary and primary schools in the six area councils for next year.
He said the money will be shared to the councils according to their peculiar school project requirements.
“The minister of FCT, who has been described as Mr. Project, has approved new constructions, renovations or rehabilitation, provision of furniture and construction of toilets in FCT secondary and primary schools to the tune of over N13 billion.
“Wike pledges that all the projects will be executed in 2024, we are not going to give detail of how many schools will be renovated or constructed in each Area council of the FCT because the school needs of the area councils are not equal.
“There are some Area Councils that the demands are higher, there are so many dilapidated and congested classrooms. We know how the current minister of FCT changed the phase of education in Rivers state, it is the same system that he is going to do in the Federal Capital Territory that is why he has approved the money for the school projects.”
All the projects will be executed in 2024 and we are not going to give detail of how many schools will be renovated or constructed in each Area council of the FCT because the school needs of the Area Councils are not equal,” Hayyo said.
On some of the achievements recorded in the outgoing year, the Secretary disclosed that the administration had constructed 108 classrooms and rehabilitated 277 others in 2023.
He added that 64 Ventilated Improved Pit, VIP, toilets, 11 boreholes, seven school fences, one administration block and 1 laboratory were also constructed during the period.
Also, four laboratories, four administration blocks, three boreholes and a girls’ hostel were equally rehabilitated within the outgoing year.
He equally said that school furniture and instructional materials were supplied to Universal Basic Education schools, while 15 boreholes were constructed at primary and junior secondary schools.
On tertiary institutions, the mandate secretary said that the secretariat completed the construction of a 600-capacity Computer-Based Test Centre at the College of Education, Zuba, among other successes.
He stressed that the FCT Administration was not leaving any stone unturned in the improvement and provision of adequate infrastructure.
“We will continue to provide classrooms, laboratories, libraries, and recreational spaces to nurture well-rounded, successful students and ensure the efficacy of the educational delivery system,” he added.
