HURRAY! Borno IDP school finally gets more teachers

More teachers have been deployed to the school located in the camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) at Gubio, Maiduguri, Borno state, TheCable understands.

TheCable had reported that the camp, which hosts an estimated 20,500 persons displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency, is besieged with the problems of insufficient and poorly incentivised teachers as well as lack of writing and instructional materials.

The camp’s school headmaster, Musa Ramadan, told TheCable that following the report, there has been an intervention from the state and local government authorities.

Previously, teachers were failing to report for duty, classrooms were empty and children were totally uncontrollable.

“I had 54 teachers before, from eight local governments. These teachers only come once a week and most don’t come at all, but now I have 79 teachers coming from Gworza, Marte and Kalabarge local government areas (of Borno),” he told TheCable in a phone interview.

“I have teachers now,” he added in a voice that lit up in the phone receiver.

“And they are doing very well. The teachers from Gworza are coming every day now. They are teaching the children and they are beginning to learn. I think the education secretaries of these three local governments are trying.”

As at the time of TheCable’s report, the camp’s school was run mostly by unqualified, volunteer teachers, who are themselves IDPs.

TheCable had also contacted Mohammed MK, the education secretary of Marte local government, who said the teachers’ complaints would be addressed.

According to Ramadan, who is himself a retiree and an IDP, the school had 13 classrooms accommodating over a 100 students, as at January.

While the deployment of more teachers is expected to contribute to a saner learning environment, this teacher to pupil ratio of 85 is still a far cry from the average teacher to pupil ratio of 36 found in most parts of the country.

However, the federal government in conjunction with development partners such as the UNICEF, says it is working hard at ensuring several displaced children in camps in the north-east receive an education.