Parents of pupils at Ebenezer African Church Primary School in Araromi Owu, Ayedaade Local Government Area of Osun State, have lamented that their children learn in dilapidated classrooms with just one teacher handling Primary One to Six, while the school premises remain overgrown with bushes and littered with filth.
The parents said the school had remained in a deplorable condition for about five years, raising questions about the impact of government allocations to the education sector on public schools in rural communities.
They lamented the shortage of teachers, poor classroom facilities and unhygienic surroundings, calling on the Osun State Government to urgently rehabilitate the school and provide additional classrooms.
One of the parents, Ajileye Ridwan, decried the condition of the school environment, saying the overgrown bushes and poor facilities required urgent attention.
“The school is not good. There is no enough teaching staff, and it has turned to bush. They should help us clear it,” Ridwan said.
Another parent, Seki Rafiu, said the school had about four classrooms, but they were in poor condition, while only one teacher was available to handle the pupils.
“The school is not good. It has turned to bush, and they should help us clear it. People are defecating there, and we have just one teacher,” Rafiu said.
“We have about four classrooms, but they are not good. We don’t have money to take our children to private schools. That is what we want the government to understand. The school has been like that for about five years.”
The parents’ accounts raise concerns about how public education allocations translate into basic facilities for pupils, particularly in rural communities where families depend on government schools because they cannot afford private education.
While governments make budgetary allocations to education, the situation described by the parents points to persistent gaps in the provision of functional classrooms, adequate teaching staff and a clean learning environment at the school.
The parents appealed to the state government to rehabilitate the existing classrooms, clear the overgrown premises and provide enough teachers to improve learning conditions.
