Iwhrekan Community appeals to DSTG to rehabilitate dilapidated school structures

Iwhrekan Community in Ughelli South Local Government Area, Delta State has appealed to Delta State Government to rehabilitate Orhowe  Primary School in the area. PEBNEWS reports that Orhowe Primary School in Iwhrekan is currently in a poor state.

As it stands, the roofs of the buildings are leaking, the floors are broken, there are neither chairs/table, nor desks for teachers and pupils to sit to learn.

In a chat with Iwhrekan Community Chairman, Rufus Onokurhefe  said,  he usually rents chairs, tables and desks for teachers and pupils to sit learn before now. He therefore appealed  to the  state Government to rehabilitate the school's structures and provide aforementioned educational materials for school to facilitate effective teaching and learning.

In his words: "In the last Common Entrance Examination written in the  school, there were no chairs in the school, so, l hired chairs so that the children and teachers could have somewhere to sit and write. The entire school has no chairs even, the roof of many of the classes have been blown off by wind. 

"The school is completely destroyed, our leader in the community has written to the state government about the plight of the school but they have not done anything till today. 

"The last time, the Local Government Education Authority said that they wanted  to close the school because there are no desks, no roof  in the classrooms, that the place is not good for learning. We disagree with them  because  education brings about development to any community, ours should not be an exception.

"We rent these chairs and tables to encourage  children and teachers to have to sit otherwise they would stop coming to school. As I speak with you, our leader and all of us have taken it upon ourselves to  make desks for the children to have somewhere to sit", he said.

According to community source, school has been like this saying that with this  rainy season, there is doubt if both  teachers and pupils could sit to teach or  learn in that of  kind of condition. 

"These are  the children of the common people, the poor people who cannot afford private schools. This is the only place  they  can learn.

"If this type of school in Iwhrekan, an Urban area  in Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta State is as  bad as this, then, how will the  primary school and secondary schools in the rural areas, especially in riverine areas be?  

Mark you, every day, we talk about good governance, can we say there is good governance with this kind of situation?  Don't forget, this is the only way  the common man can benefit from the government of the state, he said.

When contacted, the Commissioner for Primary Education, Dr. Kingsley Ashibuogwu said: "We have gotten the report, the information is already there in our Ministry, though with our limited resources, we will not be able to attend to all of them at same time. It will be gradual, the man from the community sent a message to me about it and l  called him and spoke about it, yet he kept on posting the matter everywhere. 

"That someone said he has reported to us does not mean we will begin to run to it, there are other schools in the local government area that equally need our attention. But we have limited resources, we have intervention agencies and they are also working to provide support. So, they require some patience too, it will get to them, they will attend to the school. 

"We will attend to all schools but it may not be immediate. The Government wants to improve lives and property, it is also a Government that want to improve every community, so, they should exercise some patience, it will be attended to soon," he said.