- Enugu govt to spend N266b on the construction and equipping of smart schools across 260 wards in the state
- Many public primary and secondary schools in the state are already in deplorable state
- Students appeal to the state government to ameliorate the ugly situation
Call it a proverbial sense of selling dogs to buy monkeys; you may not be entirely wrong. But, the Enugu state government under the governorship of Governor Peter Mbah has budgeted N266.7b for the construction of 260 Smart schools across the 260 wards in the state while the existing public schools in the state are currently in comatose.
Findings by WITHIN NIGERIA showed that in many areas where the said smart schools are being constructed, the existing class room blocks were pulled down to give way for the snail pace construction of the new school structures.
It was gathered that students in some secondary schools in Enugu, the Enugu State capital, and indeed other areas in the state now hang on windows and doors to attend classes as schools struggle with basic infrastructure due to the surge in student population moving into public schools amid the harsh economic situation in the country.
By and large, when our reporter visited some of the construction sites of some of the Smart Schools, it was gathered that they have become another story of government abandoned project.
Some of the construction sites were also subjects of controversies and disputes in many communities.
However, at Central School Ogbodu-Aba, Udenu local government area, the construction site is a football field of the public school.
WITHIN NIGERIA investigation revealed all efforts by both the youths and community leaders in the community to persuade the state government to use a dilapidated primary school structure to build the said smart school proved abortive, insisting that the government field must be used, thereby denying the entire of football field.
At Adani Uzo-Uwani local government area, Premier primary school has to be destroyed to give way for the construction of smart school despite all appeals by the community to use another space. More than a year after the pulling down of the primary, the construction pace of the smart school is still very slow.
It was gathered that the influx of many students to the public schools is not unconnected with the growing hardship in the country in which many parents and guardians are now withdrawing their children and wards from private to public schools.
Analysts say this highlights the need for the government to also prioritize upgrading existing public schools and ensure that all students have access to safe and conducive learning environments.
In some instances, classrooms with a maximum capacity of 50 students are now housing over 100 students, in which case, many of such students do not have access to classroom even as they were seen hanging outside, taking classes. Some schools are even rejecting students transferring from private to public schools due to a lack of space.
Irony of the situation
This comes at a time when the Enugu State government is investing in building ‘smart schools’, which it said will focus on integrating technology and innovative learning methods.
Few months ago, tens of thousands public school teachers were taken through Computer-Based Test, CBT in the state capital. While half of the candidates didn’t make it to the fifty percent threshold cut off mark, the state government is still insisting that majority of the teachers in the new smart schools will drawn from the existing schools.
According to findings by our reporter, tutorial staff of the new Smart Schools system will be drawn from the seemingly comatose public schools.
Recently, the state government said the goal is to provide top-notch educational facilities and bridge the gap in educational standards.
Governor Peter Mbah, according to 2025 budget appropriation recently signed into law, will spend N266.7 billion in constructing and equipping 260 Smart Schools and an additional 200 Integrated Model Smart Schools.
According to the budget breakdown document made available to our reporter last week, the state will spend “N100billion for Construction of 200 Integrated Model Smart School Comprising of 3 classroom block for Nursery, 6 classroom block for primary and 6 classroom block for junior secondary in the 250 wards in the 17 LGAs.”
Nevertheless, further checks showed that N146 billion will be spent “for equipping of the smart school across the 260 political wards in the State,” while N10.7 billion will be spent “for the upgrading of three numbers of State Public Secondary Schools, to smart High Secondary Schools (Structures); one in each of the three senatorial zones.”
The governor also proposed an additional N10 billion for the construction of Smart Senior secondary schools.
Ironically, the 2025 Budget Appropriation did not allocate any funds for improving infrastructure in public schools, which will exacerbate the already dire situation and further strain the existing facilities.
For instance, some schools in the state are still struggling with basic infrastructure, forcing students to either outside the classroom and peep or hang on windows and doors to during classes.
This, to say the least, shows the need for the government to also give priority to upgrading existing public schools and ensure that all students have access to safe and conducive learning environments.
In some cases, students share desks due to lack of space for personal lockers, while teachers squeeze into limited areas to teach.
Investigation by our reporter equally showed that sometimes, the teachers even hang on the door to deliver their lessons. In many schools like Welfare Secondary school, Opanda, Uzo-Uwani local government area, there is no laboratory, library or any other infrastructure in the school.
Again, in Emene Community High School, located a few meters from Akanu-Ibiam International Airport and about a 10-minute drive from the government house, students were seen packed like sardines while other climb over their desks to reach their seats.
At community secondary school, Obukpa, Nsukka local government area, the laboratory in the school is virtually empty with little or no equipment for students teaching and learning. When our reporter visited the school, many students were overheard lamenting, calling on the state government to provide more classroom blocks to decongest the overcrowded classrooms and offer them a conducive learning environment.
“We are suffering,” one student is overheard saying, “In the afternoon, the classrooms are always chaotic and noisy because of excessive heat. We don’t have electricity in the school and because of the excessive number of students in the classrooms it makes the rooms stuffy. Words cannot describe what we pass through along with our dedicated teachers in this condition.”
“How do you expect a student who passed through this chaotic academic environment to compete with the children of the rich, who are studying in a well conducive learning environment? You cannot give out what you don’t have,” one of students decried.
Meanwhile it has severally been reported that there has been inadequate infrastructure in Emene Community High School.
Its classroom blocks are not adequate for the student population in the school. Therefore, students are packed like sardines with hardly enough space for teachers to teach or move around.
However, all efforts by our reporter to speak with the state commissioner for education, Professor Ndubueze Mbah, were unsuccessful as he didn’t answer his calls.