.We’re addressing the situation, says govt
Odahiekwu Ogunde, Yenagoa
Students of Gbaranowei Grammar School, Okolobiri, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, have expressed their agony over taking their promotion examinations sitting on the bare floor.
It was gathered that some other schools in the state capital and rural areas share a similar fate as GGS.
Gbaranowei Grammar School was established in 1973 as a boarding school for both boys and girls and has produced eminent students including Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, and Bayelsa State Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Ayibaina Duba among others.
But the condition of the school has deteriorated with two dilapidated classroom blocks without ceilings, seats, doors, and windows, and students have no choice but to sit on the bare floor to take their promotion examinations.
During a fact-finding visit to the school on Monday, it was observed that the walkway was bad and over 100 students taking examinations in one of the classrooms with scores of students sitting on the bare floor.
It was revealed that the school had been having the challenge of lack of seats since most of them were destroyed during the 2012 flood.
It was also revealed that the few seats still available in the school were due to the effort of parents under the aegis of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA).
In one of the classrooms, SSS2B, there were just 11 seats that could contain three students each for 79 science students and 35 art students which have a total student population of over 1,000.
The staff room was no better with not more than eight tables and chairs while the majority of the teachers had to stand due to the same challenge of lack of school furniture.
Reacting to the development, Commissioner for Information, Orientation, and Strategy, Mr. Ayibaina Duba, said the government was aware of the situation and that something was being done to address it.
Duba said that the Ministry of Education had carried out a NEEDS assessment to determine the particular challenges facing each school in the state.
He said the challenges comprised school furniture, lack of teachers, and the state of buildings. He, however, said the state government had purchased some seats and expressed shock that GGS did not get any.