Federal college, Ilesa, in shamble

Parents want principal removed
…As teachers warm up for showdown
From CLEMENT ADEYI, Osogbo
IN those good days of yore, it was a privilege  and pride to
be a student of a Federal Government school. Admission
into a federal school then was not easy. Only children who
passed federal common entrance examination creditably
could gain admission to the schools.
Students of Federal Government College, Federal
Government Girls College, Federal Government Technical
College and others now referred to as unity school never
lacked anything. So, any child who was in a federal school
in those days was a subject of envy to his or her peers.
But the story is no longer the same. The system has
crashed. Go to most of these federal schools of the
present times, the reverse is the case. Parents and
guardians now have to provide their children and wards’
needs.
Many federal schools are now in deplorable conditions
due to the falling standard, the Federal Science and
Technical College, Ilesa, Osun State, is no exemption. The
school has been enmeshed in crisis, following protests
over its deplorable conditions.
On Tuesday, November 10, 2015, the teachers staged a
peaceful protest to kick against non-provision of
notebooks and textbooks for the students. They also
complained of poor power and water supply, bad toilets,
inadequate hostel accommodation and insecurity. They
gave the management a two-week ultimatum, after which
they would proceed on a full strike if the management fails
to respond to find solution to the problems.
When Daily Sun visited the school, the chairman of the
Parents-Teachers Association (PTA), Mr Abiola Olufemi
Kolade, painted a sordid picture of the situation: “On
Tuesday, November 10, 2015, I received a call that the
teachers were protesting the poor conditions of the
school. When I discovered that they were fighting a good
cause that also needed to be spearheaded by the parents,
I called for an impromptu meeting of the Parents-Teachers
Association and they turned up promptly on Wednesday
from all over the country.
“When we went round the school, we discovered that both
the male and female hostels are in a mess due to lack of
water supply, bad toilets, inadequate accommodation
among others. We held an emergency meeting and came
up with certain resolutions.
“There are human excreta everywhere because of the poor
condition of the toilets because there is no water to flush
them after use . Also, the kitchen and dining room are in
bad shapes. Poor electric power supply is also one of the
problems. As a result, the environment is not conducive
for the students, making it difficult for them to concentrate
on their studies.
“With the dehumanizing conditions, the parents lamented
that even prisoners could not live where their children are
living in the hotel.” Kolade said some parents had wanted
to withdraw their children and wards:
“What aggravated their anger was that some children told
their parents that they used their bare hands to pack
excreta that litter the hostel environments due to the poor
condition of the toilets. The few available ones cannot be
maintained because there is no enough water to flush
them after use.
“So students defecate around. In fact, almost all the
parents wept on that day because if you see the
dehumanizing conditions in the school, it is like we
parents are just paying money to government to be
punishing our children for us.
“The general impression the parents got was that the
school authority is not concerned about the welfare nor
the academic performance of the students.”
Kolade said the PTA held an election on November 7,
2015, with him as the new chairman. He alleged that the
principal, Mr. Chuks Onwusiri, went to the PTA’s bank
account and asked the bank manager to frozen it, claiming
that they did not hold any election and so not recognized
by the school authority: “Whereas, he is not a signatory to
the account.” He said the account was opened 10 years
ago before Onwusiri became the principal one and a half
years ago.
He added that the parents urged the principal to ensure
that the account is reopened: “This is because that is
where the association can source money to assist in the
provision of certain things that our children need in the
school, especially when the school authorities and
government fail to live up to expectation.
“The PTA decided to open the account to complement the
efforts of government since it cannot do everything for us.
So, the principal has no moral justification to frozen the
account, especially when the school authority is not living
up to expectations.
“We have not less than 30 teachers and other non-
teaching staff that we pay them salaries. Now, it appears
difficult and near impossible to pay their salaries for
November if the account is not reopened. The parents
want to employ cleaners to keep the school clean, but
cannot because PTA is not able to access the bank
account.
“When we complained to the bank manager, he asked us
to hold a peace meeting with the principal, but the meeting
we held on Wednesday ended in deadlock.” Kolade said
the immediate past principal, Mr JA Mbaka, who left in
April 2014, spent eight years and “performed creditably
well.”
He lamented that about two to three students sleep in a
bunk: “We want the school to provide the bunks as soon
as possible. But the worry is that even if the bunks are
provided, where will they be used because the hostels are
extremely congested. That means that government has to
rise to the occasion and build more hostels.
According to him, when the parents complained, the
principal said “he is not accountable to the parents”
because they are not his employers.
The PTA chairman also disclosed that it was the
association that built the clinic for the children.
It also built some classrooms and hostels. When poor
water supply became a very big challenge, it also provided
water but because it is not enough, the students still go to
neighbouring communities to fetch water:
“The hostels and bushes are competing for space. If you
get to the hostel, you won’t believe that human beings are
living there because of the tick bushes around them. This
has been constituting a lot of dangers to the students,
especially at nights. The entire environment has to be kept
tidy as soon as possible. Sanitation exercise has to be
urgently introduced and maintained.” He noted that the
male students always complained that snakes come to
their hostels in the night, while rats invade to bite them.
“The parents and teachers can no longer work with the
present school authority. Even the students don’t want
them any longer. We want the Federal Ministry of
Education to come to our aid by restoring sanity to the
school and give us reasonable people that are ready to
work well and cooperate with the parents and teachers
and also be passionate about the wellbeing of the
students.” he said.
Chief Bayo Fagbolue, a parent told Daily Sun: “The hostel
environments are alarming and not inhabitable by human
beings. There are bushes and excreta everywhere. The
school authorities must do something urgently to sanitise
the environmens. They have to provide more hostels and
bunks so that students won’t sleep on the floor any more.”
“The principal claimed that the new exco of the PTA
recently elected are not recognized, insisting that they did
not hold any election. As a result, he wrote to the
association’s bank manager to frozen the account,
whereas he is not a signatory to. Now, the association
cannot access funds to complement government’s efforts
by providing basic facilities needed by the children as it
has been doing. For instance, we don’t know how we are
going to pay the November salaries of workers on the
PTA’s salary list. The principal must reopen the account
as a matter of urgency.
“We want government to remove him because we can no
longer work with them since they are not cooperating with
us. They are not concerned about the welfare of the
workers and the students
Another parent, Alhaji Oyedotun Jamiu, said: “In the days
of Mbaka, the students were comfortable. There was a
time I brought food to my son in the school, he asked me
to return it because there was enough food in the school
for the students. But the reverse is the case now. The
students are suffering. No good dining, no good toilets, no
good hostel accommodation. We want government to
remove the principal and bring people who can run the
school smoothly.”
Mr Vincent Jumbo, also a parent: “There was a time we
proposed to employ cleaners to be keeping the
environment clean, but he refused, saying that he didn’t
want parents to interfere in his administration. We want
government to intervene urgently and return normalcy to
the school.
One of the teachers who preferred anonymity said:
“Owing to inadequate water supply, the toilets are
unkempt and the entire hostel environments stink.
Students travel far away to look for water. All these make
it difficult for them to concentrate on their studies.
A male student said: “There is no adequate hostel
accommodation for the new students. Also, there are no
enough bunks and some students sleep on the floor. The
dining, too, is not conducive for us because it is not big
enough. Sometimes, when there is power outage, we take
our dinner in the dark. The school authorities should
provide diesel to power the generator in order to give us
light.”
Another student remarked: “The entire hostel environments
are dirty. You can see bushes around and this is not
supposed to be so. It is only God who is saving us here.
There was a time a snake came from this bush when we
were relaxing outside in the evening and there was no
light. Thank God that one of us had a lantern and we were
able to see the snake by chance and killed it. Rats also
enter the hostels and bite us. We want the school
authorities to do something about these terrible
conditions.”
“The toilets are terrible. You can see that everywhere is
smelling. The toilets are not even enough and there was
no enough water to flush them after use until very recently
when the PTA provided some water for us. The school
authorities should look into it and make this environment
conducive for us,” another student said.
One of the female students also remarked: “Whenever it
rains, the rainstorm breaks the hostel fence. During the
recent rain, the fence collapsed, but the school authority
used planks to cover it. Now, there is no fence and the
female hostel has been exposed to the public. When
people pass by, they peep into the hostels. Also we are
not safe in the night because boys peep through the
windows.”
“ Recently, our teachers went on a warning strike for three
days and are still threatening to go on full strike if the
school authorities fail to restore sanity to the school. The
situation is really affecting our academic activities.”