In 2017, Bauchi State Government certified Dass an Open Defecation Free (ODF), but the scourge still lingers in the local council, WikkiTimes can report.
Over 700 pupils at Darussalam Nomadic Primary School in Dass Local Government Area (LGA), including their teachers are being exposed to health-related risks as they defecate in the open amidst collapsed toilet facility. The school, established in 2000, is located a few kilometres away from Dass Town, the headquarters of Dass LGA.
It hosts primary classes in the morning while students of the Darussalam Junior Secondary School (JSS) take over the afternoon session.
The only toilet facility in the school collapsed about three years ago, staff told WikkiTimes. Since it collapsed, the students and their teachers openly defecate around the school. This, according to health experts, will expose them to health risk.
WHEN THE SCOURGE WENT OUT OF HANDS
According to findings, Nigeria became open defecation capital, globally, surpassing India. It was estimated that 50 million Nigerians defecate in the open. This triggered President Muhammdu Buhari to sign Executive Order 009 to tackle open defecation.
Similarly, Ministry of Water Resources in collaboration with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other key agencies, launched an initiative tagged ‘Nigeria Open-Defecation-Free By 2025: ‘A National Road Map’.
Since that time, the Nigerian government has certified some local councils Open Defecation Free (ODF), including Dass LGA where the school is located.
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According to workers in the school, several appeals have been made to the concerned authorities, but they have not had a positive result yet.
During WikkiTimes’ visit to the centre on January 3, the surrounding of the three-block school was littered with faeces and other contaminants that could harm one’s health. The collapsed toilet and the stench that oozed within the school are unbearable.
STAFF LAMENT
Sirajo Kaka Mohammad, Headmaster of the Primary School section told WikkiTimes that lack of toilet facility in the school compels the pupils to defecate “just at the school premises.”
Renovated about four years ago, the Darussalam Primary School section has 339 pupils, 25 staff as well as 10 N-Power volunteer staff.
The head teacher recalled that the toilet was destroyed by a heavy thunderstorm accompanied by a downpour that wreaked havoc three years back. “Lack of toilets has become our problem in this school and it hurts,” Sirajo lamented. “The pupils and the staff have no option than to randomly defecate in the school surroundings.”
Sometimes in 2021, there were cases of cholera outbreaks where “sometimes our pupils complained of stomach pains only to discover that it was cholera.”
The Headmaster noted that they complained to the authorities several times but the narrative remained the same. “We have been writing to Local Education Authority (LEA) and nothing has been done so far, and that’s how the open defecation continues,” he revealed.
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Murtala Abdullahi, Vice Principal II of the secondary school section, corroborated Sirajo’s words, adding the situation is exposing them to health hazards.
He noted that the host community and “Quality Assurance” promised to construct a toilet for the school, “but nothing has changed.”
TEACHERS GO DEEPER ‘TO DEFECATE IN OPEN’
According to the vice principal, there are 302 students in the secondary school section with about 30 staff including volunteer staff.
“We are facing a lot of problems,” he declared. “This lack of toilet facility is hurting us, especially we the teachers — we must trek for kilometres to get where to defecate.”
He pleaded with the authority responsible to come to their aid to build a toilet facility in the school which he said is not even surrounded by bushy areas.
Jibrin Saleh, the Head of School Services for Dass LGA, disclosed that most of the toilets in the primary schools were constructed by Bauchi State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB) or Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)
Additionally, Saleh decried the worsening state of most schools, especially in rural settings where he contends that most of the schools were built by host communities and did not meet the standard.
GOVT CLAIMS INADEQUATE FUNDS THWARTING EFFORTS
Musa Ibrahim Ardo, Secretary of the Bauchi State Agency for Nomadic Education (BASANE) said efforts by the state government and the agency to address the plights of the schools were thwarted by inadequate funds.
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He acknowledged that some nomadic schools are still operating under trees or structures built by communities, noting that the agency’s priority was to introduce pupils to the basic education system first in the absence of the structure.
Further, Ardo claimed that the government had intervened in some communities.
