FCT residents urge government to build more public schools

Some residents in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have called on government to build more public schools to cater to the need of average Nigerians.

The residents, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria in separate interviews in Abuja on Monday, stated that the number of public schools in the FCT were not enough to cater to the needs of the people.

Mr Uchenna Ugwu, a petty trader said public school was the only succour and hope of education for the children of average Nigerians.

He lamented the high cost of education in private schools, saying only a handful of FCT residents could afford to send their wards to private schools.

Ugwu said “my children attend public school and I am grateful to government for that.

“I am however pleading that more public schools should be built in the FCT to accommodate the high number of children from average homes.

“One of the major problems in public schools is the issue of overcrowding and it is because more parents are sending their children to public schools.”

Mrs Agnes Okoliko, a fashion designer said she withdrew two of her children from a private school to a public school.

While stating that there were more qualified teachers in public schools she, however, called for more attention to be paid to infrastructure, poor monitoring and classroom management.

“Public schools are good but there are some problems that should be tackled to improve the standard of education like the problem of overcrowding.

“In my children’s school for example, a class has over 60 children. No proper learning can take place in a classroom with that number of children.

“For me, government should build more schools to reduce the number of students in a classroom.”

Mr Sikiru Akeem, the Principal, Junior Secondary School (JSS) Jabi 1, said that serious attention should be given to dilapidated infrastructure in public schools.

He added that many of the schools were operating both the junior and senior secondary schools which gave rise to overstretching of the facilities.

“Many of the roofs have blown off; some of the ceilings in the classrooms are leaking while some floors have created holes for rabbits to thrive.

“Some schools are not fenced making such schools insecure for the students to learn,” he said.

Akeem, therefore, called on appropriate authorities to construct classrooms in the schools to eliminate the problems of overcrowded classrooms.

On academic performance, he called on students to be aware of the last lap of the academic session and get fully prepared to be able to move to the next class.

Akeem urged the students to take their academic serious to be able to compete with their counterpart.

“This term is a determinant term because it is full of examinations that determine who is going to the next class or not.

“WAEC, NECO, BECE and JAMB will be conducted for students and other certificate exams.

“In view of this, students need to be more serious by studying and not wait for their teachers all the time before they can learn.

“They should also learn how to read more to avoid exam malpractices, ” he said.