An independent monitoring group, Human Development Initiatives (HDI), has appealed to Lagos State Government to repair dilapidated school structures in Ajeromi/Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state.
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This, it said, would ensure that pupils had conducive environment for learning.
Mr Ismael Asiru, HDI Coordinator in Ajeromi Ifelodun, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos.
NAN reports that HDI partnered with an independent group that monitored projects such as construction and rehabilitation of classrooms, fencing and supply of furniture in Lagos schools.
The NGO’s objective is to ensure that funds dedicated to implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) projects were judiciously utilised by the state government.
Asiru said that during their 2019 monitoring exercise of some UBE projects in Ajeromi/Ifelodun, they observed that some primary schools were not conducive for learning in the area.
“At Christ The King Primary School located at No 88A, Orodu Str., Ajegunle, the roof was blown off by the heavy rainfall of 2019.
“This school, which was built by World Bank project in 2014 and commissioned same year, had its roof destroyed by the 2019 rainfall and had been left like that till date.
“The pupils that are using the floor as their classrooms were moved to ground floor, thus making the number of pupils in a class to increase to 70.
“The pupils have overcrowded the classrooms making it uncomfortable for learning.
“In that school now, we have one teacher to 70 pupils,” he said.
Asiru said there was another Model Primary School at Asapo, which was built by the last military governor of the state, Brigadier Buba Marwa.
“The model school is nothing to write home about today because all the windows, roof, desks, tables and other structures are gone.
“Pupils sit on the floor and by the windows to receive teaching. When it rains, you see them running from one place to the other because there is no safe place for them.
“We are appealing to LASG to come to our aid by fixing the structures of these schools before it starts to rain again,” he said.
He said that as the government had been preparing for the rains by dredging the canal and clearing of wastes from rivers, they should also fix these structures.
“LASG should not wait until these structures collapse before they will now want to rebuild it.
“At Christ The King school, the structure is still strong, what they need to do is to fix the roof, but the Model school in Asapo, they need to evacuate the pupils from the school to fix all the structures.
“All structures put in place by Marwa to make it a model school are all gone,” he said.
Asiru, however, commended the LASG for building highest primary and secondary schools in the state in the area.
“All the same, we want quality structures, they should give us quality structure. If you call it a model school, it has to be like that of Ikeja or Ikoyi.
“Government should not wait until the structures of these schools harmed our children before they will do it.
“This is the right time to fix it,” he said.