New Classrooms Build New Hope for Children in Paga
From dilapidated structures and harsh learning conditions, children in Paga now sit in safe, well-equipped classrooms.
Established in 1969, Paga Primary School has had the privilege of producing thousands of students. Its classrooms, weather-worn with the relentless passage of time, have nurtured and educated these children who are now finding their feet in life, society and businesses.
But the school, located in Paga, a farming settlement near Gashua, northeast Nigeria, has remained trapped in time.
Tucked behind lush rice fields, where telecommunication networks fluctuate and locals water their crops manually, this local Primary School has remained on the periphery of civilization, standing on a footpath that snakes its way into Paga settlement.
“I have 250 children enrolled in this school. There are five teachers,’’ shared Umar Haruna, the headteacher. In the past, we have had to improvise to protect children from the weather, especially rain. The government is working on a new site, but the school has been here since its establishment in 1969,’’ he adds ruefully.
Reports suggest that investments in school infrastructure have drastically waned over the last decade. Paga Primary School is the sole education institution serving and surviving in the area.
Deep cracks now run along the entire perimeter of the school facility, with gaping holes large enough to pass for windows.
Entire sections of the roof have disappeared, making any semblance of learning during inclement weather a painful and scary experience.
To upscale and improve the learning experience of children in the school, UNICEF, in collaboration with the Yobe State Government has provided a new block of three classrooms with an office.
These classrooms are retrofitted with whiteboards, sturdy furniture, adequate lighting and fans for proper ventilation.
Funded by the Government of Germany, Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development through KFW, the block of classrooms also came with newly built segregated toilets as part of the Resilience Integrated Education Programming for Children in Northeast Nigeria project.
The project which is in second phase has produced more than 400 classrooms in over 200 schools in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states. In addition, nearly 120 latrines were constructed and handed over to Government for use, to improve school retention and completion for girls and boys, among other interventions.
Such deep impact collaborations by UNICEF have built not just schools but hope for many students in Gashua, in Nigeria, where this Primary School was symbolic of lost chances. These new classrooms are a lifeline for a generation, that will reap the harvest from this positive change in Paga settlement.
We need more classrooms, but the new block of classrooms has solved a lot of our problems in this school. UNICEF and the school-based management committee had also helped us before with the renovation of one block of two classrooms. We do not learn under the trees anymore.
