Government Junior Secondary School, Rigasa, and Government Junior Secondary School, Television, Central Igabi and Kaduna South Local Government Area (LGA) respectively have solicited for desks for 2,500 students of the schools, who have no desks and sit on the floor.
The schools, while commending Governor Nasir el-Rufai for the ongoing school rehabilitation programme, which they said is changing the face of education in the state, however, said when schools resume, many of their students would face challenges in their learning because of the dearth of desks.
Speaking during a visit to the schools by Project Watch project implementation monitors, supported by Public Private Development Center (PPDC) under the Open Government Partnership (OGP) programme, the schools urged governor el-Rufai to provide more desks as part of the school rehabilitation programme to make learning more conducive in Kaduna state.
According to the Examination Officer, GJSS Television, Mr Illiya Kyari, the school has over 2,500 students spread across 27 classes out of which only 1,500 have seats, while over 1,000 students sit on the floor during classes.
“Kaduna state government has tried in improving teaching and learning.
“We received 80 student desks and four tables and chairs for teachers from SUBEB few years back. We received another 250 student desks supplied by the state government this year but the desks are not enough. We have over 2,500 students in 27 classes.
“More than 1,000 of our students sit on the floor during classes because they don’t have seat. Over 500 students in JSS1 don’t have seat, if you add 300 students in JSS2 and 200 students in JSS3 we have over 1,000 students who sit on the floor.
“The chairs supplied have improved learning capacity and learning atmosphere, as some of the students now sit comfortably to learn and have what they can place their books on to write instead of placing their books on their laps. But we need more students desks and furniture for the teachers. We have over 80 staffs most of whom don’t have chairs or table on which to work. Government should help the school,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, a senior teacher at GJSS Rigasa Central, Malam Bashir Mohammed, said with over 3,000 students, the chairs supplied are inadequate as they still have over 1,500 students without desks.
He said, “Yes, we received 80 student desks from SUBEB in 2017. But it has not addressed our furniture needs fully. The students per desk ratio is still poor.
“We have close to 4,000 students, so the desks cannot cover the population, it can only go round few classes. We need 1,500 desks, it is only JSS3 students that have desks, JSS 2 and JSS1 students don’t have desks. We need more desks for the students to ensure that our students don’t sit on the floor and to enable them have quality education in conducive atmosphere.”
