INVESTIGATION: Inside the Collapse of Government Day Secondary School, Lafiagi: A NupekoTV Investigation

INVESTIGATION: Inside the Collapse of Government Day Secondary School, Lafiagi

A NupekoTV Investigation

Government Day Secondary School (GDSS), Lafiagi, in Kwara State, is in a state of serious disrepair, according to videos and photographs obtained by NupekoTV. The materials show dilapidated classrooms in the UBE section, a main staff room with no ceiling, no fan and no windows, and senior students who have no classrooms of their own.

A source familiar with the school who spoke to NupekoTV described the situation as very bad. The source said the conditions affect the school's teachers and students, from the UBE section to the senior section, and extend to its sports activities. NupekoTV has the video and photographic evidence of what the source described.

The UBE Section

The images and video obtained by NupekoTV belong to the UBE section of GDSS Lafiagi. According to the source, all the classrooms in that section look the same way, very dilapidated. What is seen in the footage is therefore not a single classroom in poor condition, but the condition of the UBE section's classrooms as a whole.

The footage also shows the school's main staff room, which is a single hall furnished with rubber chairs. The room has no ceiling, no fan and no windows. This is the space set aside for the school's teachers, and the source said the worst has been the lot of the teachers who use it. The source drew attention to the room in the video as an example of the conditions teachers at the school work in.

       Stalled Renovation in the Senior Section

The problems are not limited to the UBE section. The source said the buildings housing SS2 and SS3 have been under roof for renovation since last year, and that nothing has been done since then. The school's exam hall is in the same position. It has also been under roof since last year, and the source said there has been no progress and nothing has happened there.

As of the time the source spoke, the situation had not changed. Both the senior classroom buildings and the exam hall remain in the state they were left in last year, with no sign of the renovation moving forward.

Lessons in the Laboratory

The effect of the stalled renovation is that SS1 is the only class with a classroom to manage. SS2 and SS3 students, who have no classroom of their own, now have their lessons in the biology and chemistry laboratory.

In the laboratory, science, commercial and art students are combined in a single class. The source explained how this works in practice. When science students have a lesson, the remaining students are sent outside. They are sent out because, if they were allowed to stay or were sent outside without supervision, they would continue to distract the students who are having their lesson.

The source stressed that the commercial and art students are not without lessons of their own at such times. They also have lessons. However, two lessons cannot go on at the same time in the same class, which is why the arrangement forces one group out while another is taught. The source asked people to imagine how things have been going at the school under these conditions.

No Sports Equipment

The school's difficulties extend beyond academics. According to the source, the school has no sports equipment. There is no table tennis, no badminton and no volleyball equipment for students.

Even the football the students play with is not provided by the school. The students contribute money among themselves to buy a ball for themselves. The source cited this as another sign of how little the school has in support of its students' activities.

Appeal to Government

The source called on the government to come to the aid of the school. The appeal covers the stalled renovation of the SS2 and SS3 buildings and the exam hall, the condition of the UBE classrooms and the staff room, and the lack of sports equipment for students.

NupekoTV has video and photographic evidence of the conditions described in this report.