Northern Nigeria is plagued with the highest number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.
It is a situation that keeps worsening while causing stagnation in the development of education in the North and Nigeria in general.
A recent report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) indicated that 69 per cent of the over 10 million out-of-school children (the highest in the world) between ages six and 14 are domiciled in the northern region of Nigeria.
According to the report, Nigerian children in the North aged between six and 11, especially girls, do not attend any primary school.
The decadence of public primary education in northern Nigeria is birthed by several factors, however, one of the constant enabling factors of this decadence is the enabling environment of dilapidated and lack of adequate infrastructure in these government-owned primary schools.
A good percentage of government-owned primary schools in northern Nigeria suffer from inadequate school Infrastructure ranging from a lack of chairs, desks, blackboards or whiteboards, school buildings and even learning materials such as textbooks and notebooks.
For a better understanding of the decadence and the poor condition of public primary education in northern Nigeria, we take a case study of a public primary school in the Danlawal community of Ikara local government in Kaduna State.
A dilapidated classroom block at Central Primary School, Danlawal
Danlawal Central Primary School has an estimated population of 1350 pupils.
With this large population, the school has little or no infrastructure to enhance learning.
It has four building blocks that contain classes for Primary 1-6. However, only three of these classes are roofed while the other classes are either collapsed, on the verge of collapsing or dilapidated.
School building block, Central Primary School, Danlawal
Dilapidated school building blocks at Central Primary School, Danlawal
It is also interesting to know that these classes barely have roofs, chairs, desks, windows and boards. Hence, the pupils are subjected to sitting on the floor for learning to take place.
A classroom in Central Primary School, Danlawal with no roofs, chairs, desks and good blackboard
More dilapidated classroom pictures
Most of these classes are also not properly ventilated. The pupils are congested in these classrooms, where the chairs and desks are barely enough.
A three-seater chair is shared between five to six pupils.
Pupils learning in a congested classroom at Central Primary School, Danlawal
Pupils sitting at the entrance of the class due to a lack of chairs and adequate space
Because some of the classes are roofless, the pupils are subjected to both the harsh sun and the rain that comes intermittently as they have no choice but to learn under this severe condition.
Pupils learning in a class with no roof, chairs and desks
Due to these pupils sitting inside the sun to learn, most of them now suffer from eye sores which the community barely have enough finance to treat.
AllNews Nigeria spoke with one of the teachers at Central Primary School, Danlawal who pleaded anonymity.
She narrated that the lack of adequate infrastructure and dilapidated buildings have been that way for over three years.
She explained that the school buildings were destroyed by constant heavy rainfall.
"When the buildings collapsed, the school head sent the education authorities pictures and videos showing the state of the school.
"This was around 2019, but we haven't heard from them ever since.
"They promised that the school buildings will be rebuilt and necessary learning materials will also be bought, but this is 2022 and nothing has been done.
One of the collapsed classrooms at Central Primary School, Danlawal
More dilapidated classroom buildings at Central Primary School, Danlawal
"Since most of the classes are not roofed, the sun and the rain had easy access to the chairs, desks and boards, therefore destroying most of them.
"Now, most of the classes don't have chairs and desks and the boards are below standard.
Pupils sitting on the floor at Central Primary School, Danlawal to learn
"Most of the pupils stopped coming to school because they had complained to their parents that they sit in the sun to learn, hence, their parents stopped their children from coming to school", she narrated.
It is glaring that one of the biggest challenges causing the soaring number of out-of-school children in Northern Nigeria is caused by the poor condition of government-owned primary schools in the North.
A situation whereby most of these public schools lack buildings, chairs, desks and proper learning facilities for pupils who which to learn is not something that encourages others to go to school.
Most of these pupils end up abstaining from school since the poor condition of the school only impacts their lives negatively.
Their parents, concerned about the health of their children stop them from going to school since they end up sitting inside the sun for learning to take place.
As always, it is expected that the government will address these issues with sooner rather than later.
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