September 14, 2021
By Ilyasa Baa
Over 170 pupils attending the District Education Committee (DEC) Primary School in Mathumu village, Dibia Chiefdom in Kerene district are prone to risk as the school structure is in cracks.
We have gathered that the school structure was erected in the 90s and over the years the repairs required have not been done to strengthen the building.
The Head Teacher, Abu Emmanuel Dumbuya has described the school structure as one that needs urgent intervention. His said he has reported the problem to the relevant authorities but no action has been taken so far.
He said this situation is creating apprehension the pupils and parents. “These cracks have been on the walls for years and it is worsening and we have resource challenged to make amends,” the Headmaster lamented.
He added: “My fear is for disaster not to occur. What if the walls fall during school hours it would a real disaster that must be avoided now,” he sent out the note of appeal.
Pupils attending the school including Mihamed Sesay and Mabinty Kamara have expressed concern over the condition of their school structure. They said the poor condition of their school compared to other schools in the surrounding is something some of them are ashamed of.
They are calling on the Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education, Dr. David Moinina Sengeh to intervene before disaster occurs.
Apart from the structure issue, the school lacks furniture, teaching and learning materials including blackboards and text books for Mathematics and English Language. The invasion of termites have led to the chewing up of the blackboard used in one of the classes as well as the celling which is seen worn out and damaged from the inside of the class rooms.
The school has four teachers with only two of them being pincoded at the moment. As for Alhaji Kamara, who has volunteered for the past five years, the situation is getting tough without a pincode like some of his colleagues. He said he teaches almost all the classes every day due to the fact that the number of teachers is grossly inadequate.
The school has also been challenged by the lack of water both for drinking and washing of hands except the pupils fetch water from the stream.
“With cracks on the walls, it is good for the school to be repaired or reconstructed”, the Village Immam, Sheikh Musa Sesay had said.
Also adding her voice to the dire situation is Hawanatu Kamara, a gardener who expressed fears for her kids while attending under a cracky school. She added that the lack of pure drinking water in the school compound has resulted to disease outbreak at some point in time.
DEC Primary School was founded in 1999 and was rated second in the entire chiefdom in terms grades score in the previous National Primary School Exams
Our investigation reveals that the school is receiving one million six hundred thousand Leones as quarterly subsidy from government. Whatever the money is expended is an altogether different story that must be explored.