Emene Community High School, Emene in Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State is a one-of-a-kind school, where the teaching-learning experience is near zero, as the school suffers from lack of infrastructure, dearth of teachers, over-crowding, lack of toilet facilities, while the school gate has become a massive refuse dump site.
Chidiebere Mbah, is a 13-year-old Junior Secondary School 2 student of the school, located along Airport-Emene-Eke-Obianagu road by old Abakaliki road, opposite the famous St. Patrick Secondary School, Emene, who is desirous of a prosperous tomorrow, which quality education can give, and this is why he adheres by his father’s admonition to get education by all means; but his dreams may be truncated as a result of the parlous condition of his school.
Without a doubt, his school is probably one of the most, if not the most populated schools in Enugu State, but with limited classrooms, thus making learning an almost impossible task.
In an interview with our Source, Chidiebere said, “My father told me that he did not go to school because his parents did not know the value of education then. He said they taught him how to farm. He told me, ‘I am sending you to school to acquire education so you will not suffer like me and your mother.’
“Regrettably, I will tell you that since I came to this school, we are packed like sardines with no space for even teachers to teach.”
Lamenting the near suffocation situation students are passing through in the school to learn, Chidiebere, who stays at the back of the class, explained that he had to climb and walk on other students’ lockers to get to his locker, like other students, due to congestion.
The school, he said, has a population of about 2,002 students, but has limited classrooms with about 80 staff.
He said, “In my classroom, we are two arms of the same class staying together in one classroom. And each class has about 48 students. So, in our classroom, we are 96 students. As you can see we are overcrowded.”
Corroborating Chidiebere, another student in JSS3, who simply gave his name as Okechukwu, lamented the same clogging in his class and dilapidated toilet facility.
He said, “We don’t have enough classrooms and because of that students are always overcrowded. In my class, we are around 49 students and in that class, two arms are combined. Both JSS 3A and 3B are forced to stay in one class. So in that class, we have around 98 students in a class that is supposed to contain less than 50 students.
“Many students don’t use lockers because they don’t have sitting space. What they do is attach themselves to those students who have space. Often, some students stand up to receive tutorials. There is always noise in classes because students hardly see what teachers write on the board, they hardly hear the teachers because of overcrowded classrooms.
“You can imagine that students climb lockers to get to their seats for those who have space where they keep their lockers because there is no space even to pass. Sometimes some students park their lockers outside and come and share space with those that have space. Some students hang on the windows during classes.”
He appealed to the Enugu State government to come to their aid and build more classrooms to accommodate students and also rehabilitate the school toilet facilities.
He enthused, “That school is the only government or public school around Emene. So, children of the poor are the ones going to Emene Community High School because other schools around are owned by churches and private individuals and are too expensive for our parents. The government should please assist us by providing us with conducive classrooms and other infrastructures for learning.”
Our correspondent who visited the school reported that despite the acute shortage of classrooms, the state government has just posted over 700 new students to the school for admission into JSS1.
The school has only five classrooms for JSS1 with students capacity of 45 to 50 students per classroom. Unfortunately, the school has admitted no less than 300 students out of the 700 posted there as at the time our correspondent visited the school.
A close look at some of the classrooms showed that 90 to 100 students are packed in one classroom of a 45-student capacity. For lack of space to accommodate students’ lockers, three lockers are fixed together for seven students to sit together, while those who cannot find space hang on to windows, leading to so many broken windows.
South East Punch observed that the teachers stay on the corridors to monitor students since there is no space in the classrooms.
A teacher who spoke to our correspondents on condition of anonymity revealed that the principal of the school had written severally to the relevant government ministries and agencies, and even to the traditional ruler of the Emene community, but regrettably, nothing has been done to address the deteriorating situation.
Lamenting the situation the teacher said, “The school is short of structures. We have only a few classrooms, but we have so many students. In a class we have about 100 students – A and B classes will be in one classroom. For a teacher to teach in such an environment, you know is not conducive to teaching and learning. Some of the students cannot even hear what the teacher is saying especially in the afternoon.
“If you have an afternoon class, there is no way they will hear what you are saying because everywhere will be very hot and students themselves will not feel comfortable being in class because of overcrowding and high temperature. We need the government to come and help us.
“We have about 2,002 students in the school. Like the last session, we were about 2,002 students but if you exclude the SS3 students that left the last term, I don’t know the actual population now, but be reminded also that we are admitting the new students now. So the population is still high.”
The teacher also revealed that there is no staff room in the school, adding, “You need to be in that school to see what we are going through. Class teachers can’t even go into their classes to monitor what is happening. So we need more structures that will be conducive to teaching and learning.”
She confirmed that the school authority has complained to relevant authorities severally, with promises to remedy the situation, but for years, nothing has been done.
She added, “You can imagine when students hang on the windows and some stay in the corridors during the classes, what type of learning they are going acquire in such an environment. You will not hear what the teacher is saying, you just copy the note.”
Other challenges teachers are facing in the school, she said, include inadequate tables and chairs, while there is no power supply to the school, as the only generator the school has had been stolen by robbers, thus impeding the teaching and learning of Computer Science.
She added, “We also don’t have enough teachers and with the current transfer issues that are going on now we don’t have enough teachers in Community High School, Emene.”
Another senior teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity described the situation at the school as acute, noting that there was nothing much the teachers could do than to continue to write to authorities through the principal and appeal to well-meaning citizens of the community to come and assist the students.
He said, “We need more teachers. The ratio of students to teachers is not balanced. With the recent transfer that just happened, we cannot say this is the exact number, but I think we are 81 teachers while the population of students is a little bit above 2000 when everybody comes.
On the number of students per class, he said “Actually because of paucity of space we are having like two arms of a class and each arm on the average is about 45 to 50 students. So in sum, you have a total of 90 to 100 students in a room. It is not too good health-wise.”
He confirmed that the authorities have been notified, but so far nothing has been done. He added that “every day, children are yearning to come here, parents are yearning, because of affordability and you can’t deny them. Even when you say no, they keep hanging around; where do you want them to go, we want to stay outside, you know it is not the best.”
He informed that the government has posted 700 students to the school for admission into JSS1, adding, “I have about five rooms. However, in admission, they will say not all of them will come. Some people posted here will not come, while some not posted here will be trooping in. So, on average, we still have up to 700, but there is no space.
“Like now I have told them there is no space. I have five arms of JSS1 that have been admitted. That is about 300 students and people are still trooping and there is no space again, even when we are emerging two classes in one classroom. We have five classrooms, but they can only take 300 students. It has not been easy but we are trying our best.”
He lamented that the state of the conveniences is nothing to write home about, adding that the refuse dumps in front of the school are giving the school a bad image.”
Meanwhile, efforts to get the reaction of the government through the Ministry of Education for more than a week now have been unsuccessful, as the state Commissioner for Education, Prof Ndubueze Mbah, did not take his calls or respond to text messages sent to his mobile phone as at the time of filing this report.
