By Aliyu Baba Mohammed
Hundreds of pupils at UBE Primary School Unguwan Kartau in Ikara Local Government Area of Kaduna State sit on bare floors daily to learn in dilapidated classrooms with no chairs, no doors/windows, damaged ceilings and leaking roofs, while a nearby school in Rago village has been abandoned and converted into a drying place for farm produce.
The school, located in Janfalan Ward, has only two classroom structures and one office, all of which have fallen into serious disrepair. According to the headmaster, Malam Mohammed Kabir, the situation has become critical as the school serves not just Unguwan Kartau but also children from neighbouring villages like Unguwan Makera and nearby Fulani settlements.
All the chairs in this school have been wiped out completely. The ceilings have been removed and the roofs are leaking badly. Our children sit on the bare floor to learn every day – Malam Kabir
He explained that the school’s strategic location means it accommodates a large number of pupils from surrounding communities, but the infrastructure has deteriorated to the point where learning conditions are extremely poor.
The village head of Unguwan Kartau, Alhaji Garba Bako Nalado, appealed to the government to treat the school’s condition as an urgent matter. Meanwhile, member of the local government education authority, who preferred anonymity, revealed that Unguwan Kartau is not the only school in Ikara Local Government facing infrastructure challenges. He mentioned that many other schools in the area urgently need repairs and additional classrooms.
The education official specifically highlighted the situation in Rago village, a community close to Dokan Rago in Kubau Local Government Area, where Dawn Herald had recently reported a total school collapse, and empty clinic.
Following this information, Dawn Herald reporter visited Rago village to assess the situation firsthand. What he found was even worse than expected. The roof of the major block of two classrooms and one office has been completely blown off, some walls have collapsed, and the remains of the classroom spaces have been repurposed by villagers as a drying place for farm produce. What should be a learning environment for children is now being used to dry grains and other agricultural products. While the pupils manage a detached room that doesn’t seem like a classroom, and without a single chair and/or table inside.
This conversion of school classrooms into drying space shows how completely the facility has been abandoned. When a community no longer sees school buildings as a place of learning but as a convenient drying centre, it indicates total infrastructure failure and loss of hope in the intervention by the government.
The situation across some of these schools in Ikara Local Government Area presents a troubling picture of educational neglect despite state government efforts to improve school infrastructure in the state. While some communities in Kaduna State have received new classroom blocks and even multi-story school buildings in recent years, villages like Unguwan Kartau and Rago remain stuck with collapsing structures or no structures at all.
Unguwan Kartau village, though strategically located and serving multiple communities, has not benefited from the recent school construction projects happening across Kaduna State. The contrast between new furnished schools in some areas and children sitting on bare floors in others raises questions about how education infrastructure projects are planned and distributed.
For pupils learning on bare floors without chairs or proper roofing, concentration becomes extremely difficult. During the rainy season, leaking roofs disrupt lessons and create unhealthy conditions. The lack of furniture forces children to adopt uncomfortable positions that can affect their posture and ability to write properly.
Teachers in these schools also face immense challenges. How does one maintain discipline and deliver quality instruction when the learning environment itself is falling apart? The poor conditions likely contribute to teacher reluctance to accept postings to such schools, creating staffing problems on top of infrastructure issues.
Parents in these communities send their children to school with the hope that education will improve their lives, but the conditions undermine this hope. When children see their school literally falling apart, it sends a message about their worth and their community’s importance.
The relevant authorities like Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board (KAD-SUBEB) and Ikara Local Government Education Authority must conduct an urgent assessment of these schools in Janfalan Ward and other affected areas. The findings should inform an emergency intervention plan that prioritizes schools with the worst conditions.
For UBE Primary School Unguwan Kartau, immediate repairs are needed including roof fixing, ceiling replacement, and procurement of furniture. Given the large pupil population from multiple communities, additional classrooms should be constructed to reduce overcrowding and improve learning conditions.
The abandoned school in Rago village requires complete reconstruction. A building that has lost its roof and had its walls collapse cannot be rescued through simple repairs. The state government should include this school in its next phase of construction projects and ensure the community understands that the facility will be rebuilt for the benefits of their children, not farm produce.
Local government authorities should also address the issue of villagers using the Rago school premises for drying farm produce. While this shows community desperation for usable space, it further damages whatever remains of the structure and normalizes the absence of educational facilities.
The state assembly member representing Janfalan Ward and the broader Ikara constituency should make these school conditions a legislative priority. Bringing the issue to the floor of the Kaduna State House of Assembly with photographic evidence could help secure emergency funding for repairs and reconstruction.
Education is supposed to be the great equalizer, giving every child a chance at a better future regardless of where they are born. But when some children learn in modern classrooms with proper furniture while others sit on bare floors in collapsing buildings, that promise of equal opportunity becomes empty.
The government’s infrastructure development efforts should not create islands of excellence while leaving other communities behind. A more equitable distribution of education projects would ensure that rural villages like Unguwan Kartau and Rago benefit from the same investments as urban and semi-urban areas.
The people of these communities are not asking for something too much, they simply want their children to have chairs to sit on, roofs that don’t leak, and classroom spaces that are actually used for learning rather than drying crops. These are basic requirements that every school in Kaduna State should meet.
Without urgent intervention, an entire generation of children in these communities risks growing up with substandard education or dropping out entirely. The longer the government delays action, the wider the education gap becomes between children in well-equipped schools and those learning on bare floors in collapsing buildings.
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