The spectacle inside the Mafoni Government Day Secondary School, Maiduguri, Borno State, was that of excitement and delight on Tuesday. Dressed in their white and blue uniforms, pupils playfully chased one another around the premises. Once the school closed for the day, they trooped out into a bus parked outside the premises, shoving and pulling one another to get a seat.
That these youngsters felt this way was not surprising. For more than 20 months, they had parted ways, abandoning their studies. The state government had shut the school, among other public schools, following the invasion of the Giwa Barracks, Maiduguri, by insurgents in March 2014.
Except for the Federal Government College, Maiduguri, all public schools were closed for academic activities. The authorities had also converted many of the schools to emergency camps for Internally Displaced Persons.
But speaking to our correspondent on Tuesday in Maiduguri, the Deputy Director, School Management, state Ministry of Education, Alhaji Dauda Dibal, said schools were reopened in 20 centres last week following improved security.
According to him, some of the centres located in Maiduguri, Biu and Askira Uba, are designated to accommodate pupils from other parts of the state where insecurity is still rife.
With the resumption, however, there have come some new challenges. While it was bad enough that many public school pupils in the state are behind their colleagues from other parts of the country by two sessions, Dibal noted that terrorists killed more than 80 teachers in the state.
Besides, he stated that many teachers in the employ of the state had retired from service.
Dibal said, “Day schools have resumed last week but we have a shortage of teachers. There are subject areas that have yet to be covered and we need to recruit 5,000 teachers to fill the gap. We have submitted a memo to the governor to that effect.
“Some teachers were killed by the insurgents while some retired from the service. There are teachers who did not even go on transfer, they just abandoned their duty posts and we have yet to see them. Pupils’ population has increased because the inhabitants of Maiduguri have also increased.”
Dibal added that some non-governmental organisations had indicated interest in providing solutions to the infrastructure challenges in the schools.
“The state government is trying its best but the level of carnage is beyond our capability. Schools were burnt down with their libraries, laboratories and furniture. The United Nations Children Fund provided mobile schools and toiletries at the IDP camps. We are asking for assistance not only from these organisations but also from the Federal Government,” he said.
Aside from the teachers and facilities razed by the insurgents, the hiatus has taken its toll on the academic fortunes of the pupils, as all of them would repeat their classes. The Principal of MGDSS, Hadiza Abba-Aji, said her school was about rounding off the second term examination last year when it was shut.
“How do you place a pupil who has been away for 20 months? They have to repeat their classes and, even at that, our teachers have to put in extra effort to brush them up. The development was a setback for everybody. There are challenges because this is the first time this is happening in the history of this state,” she said.
Despite these concerns, it appears that the pupils could not be bothered. Umar, a Senior Secondary 2 pupil who claimed he kept busy as a computer operator, said he was happy to be back in school.
“I am not sad that I have to repeat my class. I am only happy that I am back to school and can see my teachers and friends. I was tired of not coming to school but I am happy that the worst is over. I am only hoping that schools will not be shut again,” he said.
Another pupil, Bala Ngeri, of the Shehu Sanda Primary School on Custom road, asked Governor Kashim Shettima to do everything possible to prevent such a situation in the future.
“I am happy to come back to school. I was helping my mother in her shop during the period of the closure. Our governor should help us so that nothing disrupts our academic programmes again,” he said.
Commending the state government for reopening the schools, the state Chairman, Association of Senior Civil Servant of Nigeria, Mr. Adamu Zadva, however, said the lull in academic activities was left to tarry for too long.
“Government is trying its best but the refugees should have been returned to their local governments since. You can imagine if you were in Senior Secondary School 1 in March last year and now you are still in the same class. If the refugees had been taken back to their local governments and security agents attached to them, this would have made it possible for the pupils here to return to school,” he added.
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