‘Revive Parents/Teachers Association’

Members of Lagos State House of Assembly Committee on Education, Science and Technology have urged principals and head teachers of public schools in the state to encourage and strengthen the Parents/Teachers Association (PTA) as a matter of urgency.

The committee members gave this advice when they visited the principal of Oriwu Model College, Igbogbo, Ikorodu Lagos.

The committee said such relationships would ensure effective dialogue that could salvage the students from appalling conditions with which they live and receive lectures in the state.

Speaking after the visitation to the classrooms, dining rooms, toilets and hostels where the students live, a member of the committee and former student of the school, Mufutau Egberongbe, lamented that the school had changed from what it used to be.

He decried the poor condition under which students of the school lived and ate and added that the principle of Parents/Teachers dialogue must be resuscitated so that parents would be able to see things themselves and know how to assist.

“The situation here is not only appalling but also disgusting because I cannot imagine how students could live in this kind of environment.

“The classrooms are nothing to write home about, the hostels are in bad shape, the rooms are not habitable while the environment may endanger the students’ lives.

“We are going to do all our best to salvage this school because the situation here does not speak well of a mega city”.

Speaking further, the Chairman of the Committee, Wahab Alawiye-King promised that the House would ensure that the lives of the students are not endangered by improving the condition of the school.

Responding, principal of the school, Adeleke Oluseun, who said the school was challenged due to the shortage of funds, agreed that the condition of the school was poor.

He urged the state government to build new hotels that would accommodate all the students conveniently.

“One of our challenges is the N25,000 boarding fee per term.

“The reason is that the said amount is not enough to cater for the feeding and welfare of students per term. We need new hostel because what we are using now is not good for the students,” he said while calling for a review of the school fees.

—Eromosele Ebhomele