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| Some of pupils of Okome Primary School |
Its Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr
Chiedu Ebie, told a reporter that vandalism and theft of public school facilities
was a ``big problem’’ in Delta.
"One of the problems we have today is the high
rate of theft and burglary in our schools.
"Every week we get reports on that, in addition to land
encroachment by communities. We have security men guarding public schools in
the state but they are not armed.
"Government cannot do it alone; this is why communities
should assist in proper policing of public schools in their domains otherwise the
situation will remain," he said.
The commissioner was responding to enquiry on a similar situation
at Okome Primary School, Edjemuonyavwe-Oghara in Ethiope West Local Government
Area of the state.
Photographs circulating on social media show ramshackle and vandalised structures with pupils
either standing or sitting on the floor of their classrooms.
The school’s head teacher, Mr Lucky Adjigbere, who confirmed
the authenticity of the photographs, described the situation as ``very bad’’.
``There are eight classroom blocks in the school; three were
renovated by the state government in 2011 while the remaining five are dilapidated
and seriously begging for renovation.
``The renovated blocks have been vandalised by miscreants,
with their windows, ceilings, furniture as well as register and other vital
school documents carted away.
``Out of about 1,350 pupils in the school, only less than
100 have seats which are provided by their parents. The rest sit on the floor
with mats, sacks and their school bags.’’
Adjigbere said the vandalism was carried out mostly at
night, adding that the five security men attached to the school worked only in
the day.
He explained that he had drawn the attention of
Edjemuonyavwe community, the state government and the school’s Parents Teachers
Association (PTA) to the situation.
When contacted, the PTA Chairman, Mr Samson Iburu, said the
association was putting security measures in place in collaboration with the
community to protect the school.
Iburu blamed incessant vandalism of public schools in the
community on low orientation and poor attitude of the people to public facilities.
``The problem here is the low mentality of our people. They
don’t have the understanding that maintenance and security of public facilities
is a collective responsibility,’’ he said.
The commissioner said that the state government was looking
into the situation at Okome Primary School.
``You have drawn my attention to the situation, so
we are looking into it.
``We have over 1000 primary schools in the state, and it is
expected that some of them will have dilapidated structures. We are trying very
hard to attend to as many as possible.
``We are in the process of distributing furniture to schools
in Ethiope West under the constituency project of the state lawmaker from the
area, and I am sure that particular school will benefit.’’
Meanwhile, the head teacher has confirmed the delivery of 500
chairs to the school on Monday, coming barely six days after the commissioner’s
promise.
``They have also promised to renovate three blocks in the
school after which another 500 chairs would be delivered.’’
He expressed appreciation to the state government for the
gesture, and appealed to the community leadership to take a strong position on
the twin evils of vandalism and theft in the school.
