Beside Adamawa Government House, school battles decay, thirst

Dougirei Secondary School, located less than 100 metres behind the Adamawa State Government House in Yola, has been left in a deplorable condition, with pupils and teachers struggling to cope with dilapidated classrooms, inadequate furniture, lack of water and other essential learning facilities.

The school, situated in the Boronji community of Yola North Local Government Area, is a close neighbour to Governor Ahmadu Fintiri’s office. However, its proximity to the seat of power appears to have done little to improve its deteriorating infrastructure.

A visit by Arewa PUNCH to the school on Tuesday revealed a facility struggling to function as a centre of learning, with its physical condition resembling an abandoned Internally Displaced Persons’ camp, particularly when students are on vacation.

Teachers and some students were seen sitting under trees for lessons and other academic activities, while the staff room, which accommodates personnel of both the junior and senior secondary sections, was too small to provide adequate space for them.

The classrooms were equally in a terrible state, with ceilings falling apart and creating spaces that could serve as hiding places for dangerous reptiles. The structures appeared unsafe for students and teachers, raising concerns about the possibility of a collapse.

Despite the school’s proximity to the Adamawa State Water Board’s headworks, the institution has no functional water supply, a situation that has rendered its toilet facilities unusable.

Arewa PUNCH observed that the toilets, meant for both male and female students, had been shut because of the absence of water, forcing students to resort to nearby bushes whenever they needed to answer the call of nature.

The school also lacks an examination hall, leaving students writing external examinations, including the West African Senior School Certificate Examination and the National Examinations Council examinations, under trees and sitting on large stones within the premises.

The situation is further compounded by the absence of adequate desks and chairs in the classrooms, making effective teaching and learning difficult.

Some members of staff, who spoke to Arewa PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said the school offered science subjects but had no science laboratory to support practical lessons.

They attributed the students’ poor performance in science-related subjects partly to the absence of laboratory facilities, which they said had made it difficult for learners to acquire the practical knowledge required by the curriculum.

The teachers also lamented the lack of basic furniture, saying some of them had to bring their personal mats to school to serve as improvised seats and working surfaces.

One of the teachers wondered why a school located directly behind the Government House had been left in such a condition despite the state government’s repeated claims of prioritising education.

To worsen the situation, the school reportedly experiences severe flooding during the rainy season because water discharged through drainage pipes from the Government House is channelled into its premises.

Arewa PUNCH learnt that whenever there is heavy rainfall, large volumes of water flow into the school with considerable force, disrupting academic activities and raising fears for the safety of students.

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The situation has reportedly forced the school management to suspend activities on some occasions during the rainy season to prevent students from being endangered by the floodwaters.

The Chairman of the Parents-Teachers Association, Alhaji Mohammed Usman, said he had written several letters to the Ministry of Education to draw attention to the deteriorating condition of the school but had yet to receive a satisfactory response.

Usman expressed frustration over what he described as the ministry’s failure to address the plight of the students and teachers.

“I’m tired of writing letters because the ministry is not concerned about the plight of our students and teachers. We are now waiting for God’s intervention, not man’s intervention again,” he said.

The deteriorating condition of the school has raised questions about the implementation of the Fintiri administration’s education policy, particularly its declaration of free education and the establishment of model secondary schools across the state’s 21 local government areas.

Fintiri has consistently identified education as one of the priority areas of his administration, while his government has introduced free education and school feeding programmes in boarding schools.

However, the condition of Dougirei Secondary School has raised concerns among stakeholders about whether existing public schools are receiving the attention required to provide a safe and conducive learning environment.

A review of the Adamawa State budget figures cited in the report showed that the administration allocated N17.32bn to the education sector in 2020, N24bn in 2021, N17.3bn in 2022, N26.8bn in 2023, N15.603bn in 2024, N40.41bn in 2025 and N40.63bn in 2026.

The figures have further heightened calls for transparency and accountability in the implementation of education budgets, particularly in the provision of basic infrastructure in public schools.

Stakeholders have called on the state government and the Ministry of Education to explain how the allocations have been utilised and what measures are being taken to address the infrastructural challenges confronting schools such as Dougirei.

Arewa PUNCH visited the office of the Commissioner for Education, Dr Umar Pella, on Tuesday to obtain his reaction to the situation, but he was unavailable.

Several telephone calls placed to him were also not answered, and he had yet to return the calls as of the time of filing this report.