When the people of Lafiyari community in Bauchi local government area got the news that a primary school would be established within their locality, they were filled with joy as it will save them, the stress and cost of taking their children to long distance in search for education and at the same time reduce the syndrome of out of school children.
The only primary school to have been sited in that community took off some time in 2010 during the administration of Governor Isah Yuguda.
However, the joyous mood of Lafiyari community was cut short few years after the primary school took off as a result of what they alleged as negligence and act of sabotage from the part of the school’s headmaster.
Investigation by WikkiTimes revealed that the headmaster allegedly succeeded in crippling academic activities in the school as pupils only go to the school only to play, with no teacher to teach or control them as expected.
The situation became worsened when the roofing of the only two classroom block of the primary school was blown away by the rain storm that occurred around June, last year.
The village head of Lafiyari cries out
The village head of the community, Mohammed Lawal Musa who spoke to our correspondent claimed that many parents have withdrawn their children and enrolled them into neighbouring primary schools in Wuntin Dada, Miri and Tsohon Kamfani.
He said that the development if not checked, would further add to the alarming rate of out-of school children in Bauchi state which the present administration of Governor Bala Mohammed has vowed to address.
“The problem we are having concerning the school is the Headmaster. As a result, some people have transferred their children to neighbouring areas of Wuntin Dada, Tsohon Kamfani and Miri”. Musa alleged.
According to him, “we had from the beginning considered the headmaster as our own but later became disappointed in him because all efforts to make him do the needful proved fruitless”.
“When we start noticing the anomalies in the Headmaster, myself and members of my cabinet met him, we passionately appealed to him to improve on his job because it was affecting our children’s education but he didn’t change. So, we went to complain to the Local Education Authority (LEA) about him but because he has highly placed government officials by his side they intervened by even coming to my house to plead on his behalf.” Musa alleged.
Adding that, “his brothers and relatives came to plead on his behalf, promising that they would warn him to change. We made it clear to them that he is sabotaging the efforts of our community to be educated and make progress because he has been the headmaster since the establishment of the primary school in 2010. So, they pleaded on his behalf and we accepted, thinking that he would surely change for better.”
Musa further alleged that, “we had observed that any time a serious teacher is posted to the school who demonstrates the zeal to do his job properly, the Headmaster would work hard to ensure that such person is transferred to another school because he himself doesn’t come to the school regularly and perhaps he thinks his act of absence would be revealed”.
The village head who could not recall the full and actual name of the Headmaster said, “honestly, I don’t know his real name but they call him Danyaro, he is the Maiunguwa (community leader) of Igbo quarters”.
On the specific period some of the parents began withdrawing their children from the school, Musa said, “the truth is, even before the roof of the school was affected by the rainstorm last year, the teachers were not serious on their work. The children used to go to the school and end up fighting each other because the teachers are not always there to control them.
When we noticed that, we drew the attention of the Headmaster with a view to calling him to order but his relatives came and intervened, at a time he started changing for good but later reneged, because of that, some of the parents withdrew their children from the school “.
Mohammed Musa who said Lafiyari community have an estimated number of more than 2000 residents, called on the present administration in the state to come to their aid by renovating the school in line with its resolve to restore, the lost glory of education in the state.
Parents groan
Also speaking, a resident of Lafiyari, Hassan Abubakar who registered two children, expressed dissatisfaction with the learning process in the school.
According to Abubakar, “I recently withdrew my children from the school because I was fortunate enough to realise that my own children cannot match their mates from other neighbouring public primary schools in terms of learning.”
He said that he had since enrolled two of his children in Tsohon Kamfani primary school because the teachers in Lafiyari have not been fully discharging their responsibilities.
“Any time my child comes back from the school, they will tell me that no teacher came to the school, claims Abubakar.
Abubakar who said they had complained about the headteacher on several occasions, including the district head of Miri but to no avail accused the headmaster of not properly coordinating the activities of the school.
Baring his mind also, a concerned parent, Dantani Mohammed claimed that he used to be a friend of the headmaster but decided to cut off from him as a result of his alleged unwillingness to handle the only primary school they have in that community.
The parent who was visibly angry said, “if not because the rest of my children were in their final year I would have withdrawn them from that school. “
Primary school Pupil bare his mind
A primary 5 pupil, Ismaila Abubakar said his father enrolled him in neighbouring Tsohon Kamfani primary school because he perceived that there is no proper learning taking place in Lafiyari primary school.
Headmaster of the school declines comments
When contacted, the Headmaster of the school, Sulaiman Abubakar declined comments, saying that he is an employee of LEA and as such, they should be contacted for response.
However, a teacher in the school who spoke in confidence accused some of the parents in the affected community of not taking the education of the wards with seriousness.
According to the teacher, some of the parents do come to the school to call out the pupils to follow them to farms.
Bauchi LEA Reacts
Reacting to the development in his office, the immediate past Secretary of Bauchi Local Education Authority (prior to their recent suspension), Hassan Salmanu Usman said his office has not received any formal complaint on the condition of Lafiyari Primary school.
“I did not receive complaint from the Headmaster on the condition of the school nor complaints against the headmaster from the community members” says Salmanu.
”You see, as I told you earlier, I said that there is a process of the work. The school is headed by the Headteacher, then the Head teacher, there is his superior officer, that is the SSO, who is the supervisor, and we have Area Education Officer (AEO) in charge of that district”.
Usman who maintained that it is the responsibility of the SSO to report any non-performing headteacher to the LEA for necessary action said, “even now as I am talking to you I have just received a report from a team of supervision from that District.”
He added that, “the team, headed by the AEO reported all the incidents, all the problems of that area. On the headteacher you are talking about, (Lafiyari Primary school), the Committee advised or suggested that he should be transferred from that school to another school because of the poor handling of his work.”
The Secretary who pledged to go through the report said, “I assure you that the authority will not take it lightly, we will take all the necessary measures and treat the case as it is supposed to be.
Usman therefore, called on the people of Lafiyari and other communities not to hesitate to report to LEA if they have complaints against their headmasters or any staff.
“The community members have to know that they are part and parcel of that school that is why we have the School Based Management Commitee (SBMC). They have the right to go to the school and see what the school is doing, if the teachers are not doing their work, they should report them to us”. He said.
According to him, “the SBMC comprises of 17 members. The Chairman of that SBMC is either the village head or one the community members, where the Headmaster serves as the Secretary of the committee. So, these people are the managers of that school, they are to be meeting with teachers in the school, to solve the problems.”
On the dilapidated nature of the school, the LEA Secretary said, SUBEB has already directed that all the schools affected by the 2018 windstorm, should be compiled and had since been submitted to them.
