The Gabchyari community in the Darazo council area in Bauchi says the only primary and junior secondary school (JSS), with 350 students, has only three teachers.

According to Abdullahi Muhammad, a teacher, the school has only two teachers for the JSS and one for the primary school section.

“Sometimes, people ask us, ‘What do you teach them because you are only three teachers in the schools?’. We have one teacher who doubles as the headteacher with more than 200 pupils in the primary school and 150 JSS students,” said Mr Muhammad.

The teacher added, “Most times, my partner in the JSS and I assist by teaching in the primary classes. We go there to do our best.”

In separate interviews in Gabchyari on Monday, community residents said the situation contributed to the high number of out-of-school children in the area.

They appealed to the Bauchi government to send more teachers to the school to save the situation.

A resident, Isa Ibrahim, said the lack of adequate teachers had discouraged many parents from sending their children to school.

“We want the government to help us get more teachers here; teachers are very important and needed in this school,” he added.

Yahaya Adamu, another resident, called on the government to renovate the school to make the environment conducive to teaching and learning. He disclosed that out of the three blocks of six classrooms in the school, only two are in good condition.

Mr Adamu added that the lack of potable water in the community had contributed to the nonchalance of the students and parents to learning.

“This makes them not attend classes on time. And even if they go, they are always tired from the rigour of fetching water,” Mr Adamu said.

Reacting to the complaint, Abdullahi Muhammad, spokesman for the Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board, said posting teachers was the responsibility of local governments’ education secretaries but that Governor Bala Mohammed had pledged to recruit more teachers to address the shortage.

(NAN)