Abuja: We borrow classrooms, run classes in shifts: Principal

Coronavirus guidelines have forced schools to accommodate only 35 students per class, further compounding space challenges.

Nimi Princewill and Idris Ibrahim • November 17, 2020

Secondary school students in Gosa,

A school administrator has lamented the dearth of classrooms at the main secondary school in Gosa, an outlying district of Nigeria’s capital Abuja.

Josephine Eguaikhide, vice-principal of Government Secondary School, told Peoples Gazette on Monday that the school had resorted to sharing its insufficient classrooms between the densely populated junior and senior secondary sections.

The official disclosed that classes are being conducted in shifts due to the failure of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, which has yet to provide a classroom block for the senior secondary section.

“We need additional blocks,” Ms. Eguaikhide told the Gazette while speaking on the sidelines of the flag-off of Write the Future (WTF) – an intervention programme of the Sustainable Community and Advancement Partners (SCAP) into early education.

“We have over 2000 students in junior secondary alone. Government has not built a single block for the senior secondary classes, so the junior section has to borrow them about three blocks,” she said. “The available classrooms are not enough and cannot handle the number of students we have, that’s why we are running morning and afternoon shifts.”

The Gazette learnt that due to the FCTA’s COVID-19 guidelines for safe reopening of schools, which mandates decongesting of classrooms, GSS Gosa has been forced to accommodate only 35 students per class, further compounding its challenges with space.

The school and other similar secondary education facilities across the Nigerian capital are run by the city administration, but complaints about a lack of funding needed to get basic supplies are rife. A city administration spokesman did not return requests seeking comments about whether or not there are immediate plans to improve conditions across Abuja schools.

SCAP founder Ojooluwa Ibiloye told the Gazette that the organisation, which also distributed educational materials and sanitary products to 200 pupils of the school during its Monday visit, would continue to push the government to urgently provide support to secondary schools.

Mr. Ibiloye said his organisation would soon propose a forum that will aid direct discussions between government officials and school administrators.

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