Rivers Schools Remain in Decay Five Months After Assembly’s Call

Over five months after the Rivers State House of Assembly urged Governor Siminalayi Fubara to declare a state of emergency on primary and secondary education, many schools across the state are still plagued by dilapidated infrastructure and a shortage of teachers.

Investigations by Kristina Reports reveal that several public primary and secondary schools, particularly in rural communities, remain in deplorable conditions.

Many of the school buildings are in various states of disrepair, with collapsing walls, leaking roofs, broken furniture, and a lack of basic teaching and learning materials.

In Obi-Igbodo community, Etche Local Government Area, the situation is especially dire. An executive member of the community, Emeka Egbulefu, described the local primary school as nonfunctional, attributing its condition to years of government neglect.

“The school has been abandoned for years, we are doing our best as a community to keep it standing.”

Egbulefu explained that the few existing structures in the school are being sustained through the collective efforts and financial contributions of community members, who have taken it upon themselves to prevent a total collapse of the facility.

“We don’t have primary school, the reason is that there is no help from the government. The building has fallen, the community tried through our own sweat to renovate it, but we could only do half because there is no money.

We combined our community palm and sold it, gathered all that we were to eat for two months and renovated the school, to make sure our children go to school “

He further lamented that due to the poor state of the school, children in the community are forced to trek long distances daily to neighbouring communities in search of basic education.
Despite repeated appeals to relevant authorities, the community leader said their efforts have yielded no meaningful response.

Calling for urgent government intervention, Egbulefu stressed the need for the immediate rehabilitation and proper equipping of the school to restore access to quality education for children in the area.

” Our request to the State Government is for them to come and assist Obi-Igbodo, to make sure that we have primary school.

Where our children go to school is about four miles away from the community. The only luck we have is that we are in the dry season, in the rainy season, our children suffer, they get drenched by the rain.

Therefore we want our school to be renovated, equipped, and the teachers posted must work effectively “

Reports say the situation in Obi-Igbodo reflects a broader crisis affecting many rural communities in Rivers State, where access to safe and conducive learning environments remains a significant challenge.