Over 200 pupils in Gasi Primary School, Gombe, capital of Gombe State, have been forced to continue their education in an environment that is not conducive after erosion destroyed their school building.

This is according to TrackaNG, a public accountability monitoring body in Nigeria. TrackaNG revealed on March 21 that primary education in Gombe community depreciated between 2020 and 2022.

Gasi Primary School, which has over 200 pupils, is usually non-operational during the rainy season because the school lacks structures to protect students from harsh weather conditions.

“The school has over 280 pupils who miss school throughout the rainy seasons because they can neither learn in the rain nor sit on wet stones and sand. The situation has further discouraged parents in the community from sending their children to school,” TrackaNG reported.

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In 2021, the community managed to build a zinc shade to improve learning, but the situation did not get better.

Hassan Sambo, the headteacher, told TrackaNG that “primary one to three pupils learn under the tree, while primary four to six learn inside the zinc class”.

“The government only supplies a few outdated textbooks, so we have to use our money to buy books and other stationery for so that pupils will keep coming,” he said.

“Even children from other communities like Garin Salihu Randam, Garin Katsinawa, Panglang Anguwan Musa, Batu Anguwan, and Jauro Iliya come all the way to Gasi to learn. If the government builds a good school for us, it will even benefit many people outside Gasi.”

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Describing the pain of sitting on a stone all day to learn, Babangida Yakubu, a pupil of the school was quoted to have said, “My back aches from sitting on stones every time. I don’t even come every day anymore because the pain is too much”.

Ibrahim Sambo, the community head, also said the school had been in that condition since erosion destroyed it five years earlier. Since then, the state government has not provided a lasting solution.

When FIJ contacted Esther Lamon, a representative of TrackaNG, she said, “The school is still in the same state. Nothing has changed about it”.

FIJ also called the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), but the line was switched off. A text message sent to the line had not been responded to at press time.