Shouldn’t Gov Okowa Hear This?
For some reasons, I have, for a long while now, refrained from commenting on the goings-on in the governance of my state, by Dr Arthur Ifeanyi Okowa. But as my people would say, an elder cannot be at home and the goat will be left to deliver in tethers. I was recently in Delta State and had cause to visit the secondary school in my village: Emonu Comprehensive High School. Emonu-Orogun. It was in a complete desolate state. Every thing from classrooms to facilities to staffroom, etc., are as they ought not to be. The little bright things seen were provided by the community. How teaching and learning go on in such a place is a wonder.
Same week, I got a report on the famous Orogun Grammar School, my alma mater. That the great school has now been so degraded to the point of having just a dozen teachers in all, some of whom are even youth corpers. That the head teacher of English is indeed a youth corper who studied Management! Gosh, how are the Mighty fallen… the same college founded by late Chief Demas Akpore (M.A Classics)—in 1966---, former Deputy governor to (Prof Ambrose Ali in 1979)? Is that the same school that a corper is now the Head of Department of a subject area he should have no competence on? Where is Gov Okowa? What is the level of attention paid to education? How do we expect a better tomorrow if we do not invest in our youths through quality and guided education? In my village too, the community had hired some teachers whom they pay just so the children would not miss out completely. Where is government? Just where is government?
Under former Gov Emmanuel Uduaghan, there was conscious effort at hiring teachers into the schools, where are they and why has Okowa seemingly abandoned the schools to their fates, or trans-loaded the responsibility of running the schools to the communities? I am not sure this experience is peculiar to these two schools. I suspect it is prevalent. Where is the commissioner for education? What are the inspectors doing these ays? Surely, something can be done. the government should not cause Chief Akpore to turn in his grave. #save our schools!