Parents lament shortage of chairs, desks at LEA school

Parents of pupils at the Local Education Authority (LEA) Primary School in Idu-Koro community, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC) of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have raised concerns over the deplorable condition of the school’s classrooms.

The parents said some pupils were forced to sit on bare floors during lessons due to a shortage of desks and chairs, while leaking roofs had made learning difficult, particularly during rainfall.

They spoke when Abuja Metro visited the school on Monday.

One of the parents, Mrs Roselyn Ayuba, said all four classrooms in the school had been affected after part of the roof was blown off, disrupting academic activities.

She said the condition of the classrooms had made learning unconducive for the pupils, appealing to the LEA management to liaise with the FCT Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) to rehabilitate the school.

Another parent, Markus Daniel, complained about the shortage of desks and chairs, saying pupils often had to sit on the bare floor during lessons.

He said the deplorable condition of the classrooms had persisted for more than a year without intervention from the government.

A teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said pupils were often sent home whenever it was about to rain because of the leaking roofs.

He said the four classrooms, including the head teacher’s office, had been affected after the roof was blown off by strong winds, making it difficult for teachers and pupils to remain in the classrooms during rainfall.

“And whenever it is about to rain, we have to ask the children to go back home because there is no classroom to accommodate them as the roof has been leaking,” he said.

The Chairman of the school’s Parents-Teachers Association (PTA), Jonathan Yakubu, said the lack of a conducive learning environment for pupils and teachers had been a major challenge facing the school.

He said teachers also lacked chairs, adding that some were forced to sit on window ledges.

Yakubu said the association had written several times to UBEB through the LEA management, seeking intervention to rehabilitate the school.

“We have written to the UBEB on several occasions on the need for them to come and rehabilitate the school but up till now we haven’t heard from them,” he said.

The PTA chairman added that pupils from Primary One to Primary Five were being combined in a single classroom due to inadequate desks and chairs.

A visit to the school by our reporter showed that the roof covering the classrooms had been blown off, while only a few desks and chairs were available in one of the classrooms.

Some pupils were seen sitting on the available furniture, while others sat on the bare floor.

An official of the LEA office in AMAC, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the management had already written to the board about the challenges facing the school and was awaiting approval for intervention.

The spokesperson for FCT UBEB, Ibrahim Azeez, could not be reached for comment.

However, a senior official of the board told our reporter that the school had already been captured among those slated for renovation in AMAC.

He said the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) had released intervention funds for the renovation of some primary schools in the council, adding that Idu-Koro community was among the beneficiaries.

“In fact, just on Monday, the board held a cluster training for head teachers and desk officers on the disbursement of the funds for the renovation of some schools and the construction of toilets,” he said.

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