DailyPost investigation has revealed that over eighty percent of public primary schools in Enugu North Senatorial zone lacks toilet facilities.
The teachers and the pupils in the affected schools said they had become used to defecating in the bush,in what they refer to as “bush method”.
The schools affected are those in Udenu, Igbo-Eze North, Igbo-Eze South, Igbo-Etiti, Nsukka and Uzo-Uwani local government areas.
It was observed that apart from few schools in these local government capitals, most of the rural schools have no toilet.
Mr. Pius Ezema, who said he has been a primary school teacher for the past 25 years lamented that government was not showing much interest in public primary schools.
The primary school head said the non-provision of toilet facilities was just one of the myriads of challenges facing the schools.
“The issue of non-provision of toilet facilities has become part of the public school system in this part of the country. It is not even being regarded as a priority at all. So, over the years, we have become accustomed to using the bush, where it is available.
“However, I am not saying that it is something that should continue because most times these pupils could be attacked by snakes or other dangerous things inside there in the bush. You should not forget that some of them don’t even have sandals, so they go into these bushes on bare foot.
“On the part of the teachers, it is equally a shameful thing that somebody like me rushes into the bush to answer ‘the call of nature’, but it is something one cannot avoid”, he lamented.
For another head teacher in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of the state, “the important thing government should do is to start providing us with subvention for running our schools.
“What I receive as termly subvention from the government is N600 (six hundred naira). It may sound as a joke but that is the truth. Some schools receive N900, that is the highest. So, primary school heads in Enugu state run schools with their salary.
“I recall that last year, the government told us that we shall be receiving N25,000 as subvention, but one year after, no school in Enugu State has received that money. Yet, they barred us from collecting any form of levy from pupils.
“You can see why I told you that even though we are not happy over the non provision of toilet facilities, it is just one of the many problems we have. We can’t continue to buy chalks, registers, and maintain schools with our meagre salary”.
Although efforts were made to reach the supervisory councillors for education and the information officers in the affected areas, they were evasive.
However, the supervisory councillor for education in Nsukka Council Area, Mr. Byron Ezugwu said teachers should equally be blamed for the lack of toilet facilities in primary schools.
“What you should know is that even in some places where these facilities are available, the teachers convert them to stores. In some other places, the facilities are abandoned after they have been messed up”, he said.
Asked why the government has not taken radical measures to change the situation, he said: “neither the local education authority nor a head teacher has written to my office about the situation. They are always talking about desks, tables and things like that. The government on its own part has been responding to those requests”.
“Also, in places we renovated in primary schools, we also ensured that toilet facilities were provided”, Ezugwu added.
The information officer of Igbo-Eze North Local Government Area, Mr. Simon Eke promised to get back to our correspondent but as at the time of filling this report, he is yet to do so.
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