The pupils moved around the ‘playground’ full of excitement, energy and happiness. It was a free period for them at the time, so their classrooms instantly turned into a playground.
The classrooms at the junior section of Ikeja Grammar School, Bolade-Oshodi, Lagos bore a resemblance of classrooms only because of the white boards and the teachers standing in the front of the classes. Everything else was in a shambles.
Of particular note were the pieces of furniture in each of the classrooms, which could be described as a pile of wooden planks at best.
At Ikeja Grammar School, Junior Secondary School Class One has 10 arms – from 1A to 1J- because of the number of pupils in the school. Each of these 10 classes has at least 30 pupils.
But two classes are usually combined for some subjects to be taught.
When a teacher eventually entered a class made up of class 1E and 1F pupils, it was like a convergence of ants as the pupils squirmed over one another just to get a glimpse of the board in the tiny classroom.
Some sat on the window, some stood outside looking into the class while they balanced their books on their little hands to write.
Some of the pupils made a ‘goal post’ of benches – a plank sourced from broken class benches balanced on two cement blocks at each end. Some of the pupils also had to pile up at least four of such planks to get the necessary height for them to see the board over the heads of some of their classmates who were standing up.
A few of the pupils sat on the floor.
The subject was Islamic Religious Knowledge. The obviously uncomfortable teacher was sweating profusely in her Hijab. The reason was immediately obvious when our correspondent moved near the window of the class; the heat emanating from the room almost seemed like the one from a steaming pot.
At the back of the class was a pile of abandoned planks that had separated from disused benches and desks. But these were not to be thrown away, they were ready furniture for pupils who are tired of standing to sit on.
Ironically, the school is very close to the seat of power in Lagos State, the centre of excellence.
When a teacher leaves one of the classrooms after a lesson, it seems almost impossible for the pupils to sit down and chat with one another.
They scatter around the classrooms in playful revelry because the lack of chairs is an advantage for their restless legs.
“Parents of many of us have not been able to give us chairs to bring to school; that is why we manage anyhow in the class,” a pupil, Johnson, told our correspondent.
Those in the higher classes, who probably experienced the same ‘chair problem’ when they were in the lower class, have become owners of chairs due to their longer stay in the school. But in Junior class one, where the problem is common, it is agony.
It was the same explanation with each pupil our correspondent spoke with. “My mummy said she would make my own chair next year,” a chubby girl, Esther, who said she shared a chair with her friend until the chair broke under them two weeks ago, told Saturday PUNCH.
When our correspondent asked a pupil whether he was comfortable on a contraption of a chair he sat on, perhaps he did not hear very well, the young boy said ‘Yes.’
The boy was sitting on a contraption of two legless desks piled on each other, tilting precariously as if he would fall if he let go of the desk he was writing on.
One of his friends picked on him instantly: “The uncle said is your chair comfortable? You don’t understand English!”
At this, the boy smiled and said, “No o! I use the chair only when I want to write. I am just managing on it because I don’t have my own chair. My father will soon get me one.”
The junior class of Ikeja Grammar School is made up of 16 classrooms constructed when Col. Buba Marwa (Retd) was the military administrator of Lagos State. A plaque, commemorating the opening of the blocks of classrooms showed that it was built in 1999.
A look at the classrooms from outside would show buildings that were in good shape. They were not utterly old but a peek inside revealed something unexpectedly ugly because of the jumbled nature of the disused furniture in the classrooms.
James, who said he was the captain in one of the classrooms, said his father gave him a chair from home but he still had to share with a friend.
“Some of the chairs we are sitting on (benches with back rest) were here before, but few of them are good. The teachers said we should bring chairs from home,” he said.
One of the teachers who spoke with our correspondent was non-committal about the issue when he was asked why there were inadequate chairs in the classes.
“You have seen it yourself. Are we teachers supposed to be the ones to provide the chairs? We were employed to teach and that is what we are doing,” he said.
Teachers or head teachers in the state government’s employ are not authorised to speak with the press.Saturday PUNCH sought to speak with the principal of the school all the same, only to meet the usual brick wall of, “She’s not around” on Tuesday and no one volunteered to say when the head-teacher would be available.
A teacher who later spoke under the condition of anonymity, explained that the situation had affected teaching in their classes.
The teacher said, “We have been managing with this bad situation. Teaching has been difficult even though teachers here are doing their best. Our pupils are not concentrating due to the fact that some of them do not have chairs to sit on.
“When a pupil is uncomfortable, how can you teach such a child successfully? The classes are okay as you could see but the chairs are the main problem. Most parents who have noticed this problem give their children chairs from home.
“The problem is that most of the parents do not know that it is neither the fault of the principal nor the teachers. They direct their anger at us. The principal has been doing her best. She has written to everybody concerned on the matter; the education secretary, the local government and even individuals.
“We all know that government does not answer requests on time. Initially, government gave the school enough chairs for pupils but the number of pupils admitted has overtaken the number of chairs.”
The teacher explained that when older pupils spoil their own chairs, they break into the reserve room where chairs are kept to replace them, even though there is a rule in the school that those responsible for spoiling chairs must replace them.
“We don’t usually find it easy to fish out the culprits who damage the chairs,” the teacher said.
Parents of pupils in Ikeja Grammar School who are aware of this problem in the school are not happy about the situation.
One of such parents, Mr. Abel Olatunji, said he was shocked when he made the discovery about the state of infrastructure in the school during a recent Parent-Teachers Association meeting.
He said, “My child, who got admission to the school recently, told me that there were no seats for them during lessons. I had always wondered why her school uniform was always dirty when she got home everyday, she always told me they sat on the bare floor sometimes.
“During the PTA meeting at the school, I was shocked to see the kind of classrooms these pupils have to learn in. I saw some using blocks as improvised seats. And this is the 21st Century!”
He said the situation was a dent on the ‘mega city’ image being propagated by the state government.
The problem has become a source of concern to the PTA, which is making a deliberation on how to repair those that could still be salvaged out of the bad furniture.
The Chairman of the PTA, Mr. Yisa Moshood, told Saturday PUNCH that the school principal had indeed taken many steps to reverse the situation but results were not forthcoming yet.
He said the association had decided to bring in a furniture maker to estimate the cost of repairs and make new furniture for the pupils but that the principal was sceptical about the step.
“We wrote a letter about our plan but the principal could not go along with it because Lagos State is operating a free education and she does not want to be involved in anything that will make it seem as if parents are financing their children’s education.
“The problem is that we cannot wait for government because we have seen some pupils go through junior school without chairs in the school.”
He said the PTA executives would still deliberate on the issue to fashion out a decisive solution.
On Thursday, he told Saturday PUNCH the association had resolved to leave parents to provide furniture for their children’s use in the school.
During the opening of some new classrooms constructed in Gbagada Comprehensive Junior High School, Gbagada, Lagos, in September 2013, Governor Babatunde Fashola, who was represented by his deputy, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said, “Education remains the best investment any society can bequeath to its citizens as an enduring legacy.”
The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, who also spoke at the opening, also made a statement that pointed to the fact that she knew that bad infrastructure (as seen in the classes of Ikeja Junior Grammar School) would definitely affect the quality of learning in a school.
“Infrastructure is a very important aspect in delivering qualitative education because the environment a student will learn, process and assimilate information should be conducive,” she was quoted as saying in a report.
Oladunjoye did not pick calls placed to her phone seeking to get her comment on the issue. Neither did she reply a text message sent to her.
When Saturday PUNCH later got through to the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Lateef Ibirogba, he initially stated that he was not aware of the problem.
“But you have to come to my office so this can be discussed,” he later said.
When informed that this publication had a deadline, he insisted he would not say more over the phone.
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