By Uwakmfon Dan
Located in the heart of Ikpa Uruan in the Northern part of Uruan Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, St. John’s RCM School is one of the many primary schools in the state, operating with an alarming staff strength. As the only primary school serving the entire Ikpa Uruan, St. John’s RCM School currently runs with two teachers and a Head Teacher.
TheMail learnt on good authority that aside from operating with two teachers, the school with a population of about 300 pupils, has not received subvention from the state government for more than a year.
Narrating the challenges posed by the current situation, Head Teacher of the school, Mrs Mary Effiong, told TheMail that she had, at different times, written to the Akwa Ibom State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and the Local Education Authority (LEA), appealing for additional teachers.
“They told me to wait, that they will send additional teachers when they conduct recruitment. We have limited teachers in Uruan LGA but some schools have five to seven teachers. And you know that place where the school is situated (Ikpa Uruan) is far from town. If you know where I live and where I go to work every day, you’d pity me. And the road to the school is very bad, especially, when it rains”, she said.
Asked if she receives subvention from the government, she said “it has been long. I use my salary to run the school. Like today, I had to type Staff Nominal Roll, went to the (LEA) office, submitted it and got back to the school. You use your salary to do everything. I have received subvention just once, that was January 2020 when I was transferred to the school and it was the last time”, she said.
Owing to the paucity of teachers, Mrs Effiong disclosed that she currently pays for the services of a community teacher to assist the other two teachers.
“There is a community teacher that I’m paying from my salary. So once my salary comes, I give him a little thing to help himself”, she added.
When TheMail visited the school on Wednesday, May 5, 2021, it was observed that only one teacher was present, as other staff were said to have closed earlier for an important educational engagement in Uyo, the state capital.
It was also observed that lessons were not ongoing as of 11:45pm. Some of the pupils were seen cultivating a school farm behind one of the classroom blocks.
One of the teachers who craved anonymity claimed she handles the junior section of the school and teaches over seven subjects.
With no source of water supply, the teacher who lamented the nonavailability of convenience in the school revealed that pupils trek to a faraway stream to fetch water.
“We have other challenges, apart from the fact that we don’t have teachers. There is no toilet here. We had a pit toilet but it is filled. There’s a First Aid Box but the only thing that is there is spirit. If a pupil falls sick during school hours, we look for a shop to get paracetamol. We don’t have water, they (pupils) fetch water from the stream. The stream is far from the school, so they trek down there to fetch water”, she narrated.
She also spoke of their inability to meet up with the scheme of work, due to work overload.
“I have a lot of problems. I handle all the subjects. We have a timetable but to be frank and sincere, we can’t follow the timetable. There is no how we can follow the timetable because we’re two teachers. We teach the children with our conscience.
“Sometimes I merge different classes, but you know these are kids of varying ages; some are two years, others three, four and so on. So when you merge them and try teaching, this particular set will listen and the rest will be making noise or fighting because they don’t understand what you’re teaching, due to their age differences. At other times, when I merge them, I divide the chalkboard into ECC (Early Child Care), Primary One and so on. So once I’m done with this particular class, I move to the other side of the board and give them their own note. It is very difficult”, she narrated.
Chairman of Ikpa Uruan Village Council, Mr Camillus Okon also told this reporter that efforts by the village to get more teachers to the school have been futile as letters forwarded to necessary authorities have not been attended to.
It was also learnt that the Councillor representing Northern Uruan Ward One, Mr Ifiokobong Asuquo had recently, in a matter of Urgent Public Importance brought before Uruan Legislative House, pleaded with concerned authorities to deploy more teachers to St. John’s RCM School.
Efforts to reach the Chairman of SUBEB, Obong Paul Ekpo were not successful as calls forwarded to his phone line were unanswered as at press time.
Recall that the state government had recently declared a state of emergency in the education sector, with an ongoing recruitment process of 1000 primary school teachers who many believe, would fill the vacancies created by retired teachers.
(Culled from TheMail Newspaper)
