A rainfall on Saturday demolished classrooms and staff offices at Government Secondary School, GSS, Wokkos, Pankshin local government area of Plateau State, exacerbating the school’s lack of study spaces and other facilities.
Amos Bitrus, a school graduate, said the school started off at a local primary school before moving to its current location in 1996 with community-donated infrastructure, but there are still gaps in the school’s facilities.
Although the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) office constructed two classrooms and a staff office to solve the infrastructure deficiency roughly four years ago, the intervention was insufficient to address the existing challenges. The roofs of two self-help Community buildings, which were fashioned with locally produced mud bricks and provided by the Parents Teachers Association, PTA, added to their difficulties.
When the rainstorm hit, the roofs of two self-help Community structures, which were built using locally produced mud blocks and provided by the Parents Teachers Association, PTA, were blown off.
Mr. Yilduna Mantom, a member of the school’s staff, reported that more over 80 students were left stranded when classes started on Monday, despite kids being crammed into unaffected classrooms. However, the tactic is unsustainable, prompting a need for immediate assistance by the government and other public-spirited individuals and groups. The disaster may have an impact on pupils’ final year exams preparation.
The accident may have an impact on students’ final-year exam preparation as well as the COVID-19 protocols.
The disaster might affect students’ preparation for the final year examinations as well as breach the COVID-19 protocols. The School’s Principal, Godwin Yilluk, said, “We have six buildings in the school, two are destroyed and the remaining four are being managed by both staff and students. “We have 280 students, the situation is really difficult, I have written to the Area Office, the Area Director will take it up from there. I will go to the Education Secretary in the local government to let him know, we have WhatsApp platforms for Principals in the State and in the Area, I sent messages there too. We need urgent help.”
The accident may have an impact on students’ final-year exam preparation as well as the COVID-19 protocols
“Is that so?” Wapmuk asked, acknowledging the school’s infrastructure shortfall. It’s the first time I’ve heard it, possibly because it happened on Saturday. When something like this happens, the Principal is obliged to send a letter to the Area Director and the Zonal Director before it reaches our office in Jos.
“If he wrote today, it is yet to get to the Ministry, when it does, we will sit down to see what we can do. We don’t have the money kept so that immediately it happens, we will just rush, pick it up and go and start, you know government procedure, we don’t just rush to go and do it.
“There are other interventions the school supposed to do, they will know what to do. We have Area Directors, Zonal Directors, and the Principals; immediately something happens like this, they always come together, make a decision and when they come to the Ministry, we sit down and plan what to do. We ask them what is their recommendation, if there are other buildings there they move in, we don’t leave the students like that.
We know what to do if there are other government schools nearby; if the matter is brought to the Ministry’s attention, we will make a decision. The students will not be deterred from taking their exams.”