Bayelsa secondary school students write exams on bare floor

Inadequate furniture, decrepit classrooms and dilapidated buildings in some Bayelsa State schools have been exposed, as pupils take their promotion exams.

At Gbaranowei Grammar School (GGS), Okolobiri, in Yenagoa Local Government, pupils agonised over sitting for their promotion examinations while sitting on the floor.

It was gathered that some other schools in Yenagoa and rural areas share the same fate as GGS.

Gbaranowei Grammar School, established in 1973 as a boarding school for boys and girls, has produced eminent people, including the 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. Pupils have no choice but to sit on the floor to take their promotion examinations.

During a visit to the school on Monday, it was observed that the walkway was bad and over 100 pupils took examination in one of the classrooms, with scores sitting on the floor.

It was revealed that the school has been having the challenge of lack of seats since most of them were destroyed during the 2012 flood.

It was also disclosed that the few seats still available in the school were due to the effort of parents under the aegis of Parent-Teachers Association (PTA).

In one of the classrooms, SSS2B, there were just 11 seats that could contain three pupils each for 79 science pupils and 35 arts pupils, which has a total pupils 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 stood due to the same challenge of lack of school furniture.

Reacting, the 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 the situation.

He said the Ministry of Education had carried out a NEEDS assessment to determine the particular challenges facing each school.

Duba said the challenges comprised inadequate school furniture, lack of teachers and poor state of buildings.

He, however, said that the government had bought some seats, expressing shock that GGS did not get any.

(Courtesy The Nation)