The persistent vandalism and attacks on public schools in Oyo State have raised serious concerns among stakeholders.
The situation is also eliciting response from the Oyo State government and relevant authorities.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Mrs Omotoni Adedeji (not her real name), a teacher in a public secondary school located in a densely populated area of Ibadan metropolis, recounts her experience.
“Some days to the resumption of a new term, I went to the school where I teach to prepare for the 2024/2025 academic session but was accosted in the school premises by miscreants who nearly robbed me of my belongings in broad daylight.
“I took to disguise; pretending to be making a phone call to the police to report the activities in the school; that was how I escaped,” she said.
She said the act made the miscreants disperse quickly thinking she was one of men of the force sent to turn them in.
The school, located along the road in Oke-Ado area, has both normal and special students attending.
It has been severely damaged by the actions of miscreants and hoodlums who have removed the roofing sheets of two 6 blocks of classrooms; they also removed the roofing planks of another building causing a total dilapidation of the structures in quick succession.
A visit to the school showed negligence of the school environment and porosity making it easy for anyone to gain entrance at any time despite having a day guard.
Another teacher, who identified herself as Mrs Olanrewaju, said it was like a joke losing many structures in the school in days.
She said it had negative effects on teaching and learning as teaching aids such as computers and other assets that would benefit special students had been stolen.
A check at the teachers’ staff room, which also served as a library, showed the artificial manhole created by the thieves to steal vital assets of the school including electricity cables and iron windows and doors.
“Our school is very porous; we have almost eight entrances to this school because of a dilapidated perimeter fence.
“If you look around you will see that thieves in the neighborhood have stolen most of the materials used for building our structures.
“If the government wants to do something, it will think twice because of the insecurity; this is worse with our primary school.
“If you go to the primary school which is solely a special school, all the things put in place to aid teaching and learning have been stolen.’’
Olanrewaju noted that the lack of night guards was one of the challenges the school had been dealing with.
She said that if the government should employ only one night guard as it promised, the problem would persist as one personnel would not be sufficient to deal with the issue.
“We need the presence of security guards both day and night in the school to ward off these miscreants,” she said.
Similarly, in a primary school in the Oniyanrin area and another one at Aresa, Oke-Ado, the same situation was recorded.
Aside from vandalism, miscreants posed a security threat to teachers, especially the female teachers in the school.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Salihu Adelabu, said the state had been trying its best to provide infrastructure for schools
“In the area of infrastructure, we are doing our best; we have model schools being built and UBEC interventions are helping in addressing this issue” he said.
On his part, the Executive Director, Dr Nureni Adeniran, Oyo State Universal Basic Education Board, disclosed that the Gov. Seyi Makinde’s Government had paid N2.5 billion as counterpart fund for the 2022 and 2023 UBEC/SUBEB intervention projects.
According to him, it will enable basic schools and junior secondary schools to continue enjoying unhindered infrastructural development.
More so, the Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Mr Raji Oladimeji, said it was imperative to beef up security in schools in the state.
According to him, schools have been the object of vandalism and attack as valuable assets for teaching and learning are been stolen non-stop including statutory records.
He said it had been a continuous incident happening on a daily basis for a long time now.
The NUT boss said the body would work to put measures in place to curb the negative activities hampering the smooth running of education in the state.
“The vandalism is actually affecting developmental projects in our schools in terms of infrastructural development.
“There are some schools where the computer and the power system have been taken away.
“There are some schools where doors have been broken, louvres removed and other things.
“So, these kinds of attack on our schools have been hindering quality teaching and learning in public schools.’’
According to him, there are three cases that have been reported to the police and the suspects were charged to court.
“There was a particular incident around Molete axis where one of our public schools was totally ransacked; so, we reported the case at the Orita Challenge police station.
“The DPO tried his best and they made arrest; and I want to tell you that as we are talking, those hoodlums that were arrested are in court.
“And, you know, it is subject to a matter of litigation because it is still a process that is ongoing.’’
Speaking on measures to curb the menace, Oladimeji told the News Agency of Nigeria that the union had reported the issue to the state government, emphasising the need for security in schools.
“Also, we met with the Parent Teachers Forum in some of the places that we identified this issue of attack and vandalism.
“And I want to tell you that they are doing their best to make sure that fortify a kind of security in their local areas where these schools are located.
“At present, a total of 2500 day guards had also been appointed as part of the recruitment exercise of teachers– teaching and non-teaching staff.
“I want to tell you that from next week, posting of the non-teaching, especially the day guards, will also be done in Oyo State; these guards will man the schools,” he said.
He said that the union also had a memorandum of understanding with some security organisations in the state to stop vandalism and attack on schools in two of the red zones in Ibadan– Molete and Orita Aperin.
The NUT chairman appreciated security agencies like DSS and the Western Zone Security ‘Amotekun’ who were gathering intelligence and doing their best to curb these attacks.
What’s more, education enthusiasts have called on the Oyo State Commissioner for Education to champion the formulation of an Education Sector Plan to address infrastructural challenges.
Mr Yemi Osanyin, an education enthusiast, stressed the need for a holistic document that would address the current infrastructural challenges with inclusivity and accessibility at the core of the policies.
It is stakeholders’ view that all hands must be on deck to curb vandalism and guarantee safe school environment in Oyo State.
