baseline study into school based management committees in oyun lga, kwara state, nigeria

7/30/2019 Baseline study into School Based Management Committees in Oyun LGA, Kwara State, Nigeria

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ESSPIN KWARA CSO PARTNERSHIP ON SBMCs

COMMUNITY SCOPING & AWARENESSVISIT TO SELECTED PRYMARY SCHOOLS

IN OYUN LGA

A REPORT

BY

WOMANKIND FAMILY ENHANCEMENT INITIATIVE

(WOKFEI)

SUBMITTED

TO

EDUCATION SECTOR SUPPORT INITIATIVE INNIGERIA (ESSPIN)

27TH

MAY 2010

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EXECUTIVE SUMARY

The community scoping for the 31 primary schools assigned to WOKFEI for

implementation took place between April and May, 2010, this was followed bythe community forum meetings that took place from May 17th to May 27th, 2010.The methodology tools used for the 2 exercises include, Transect walk, Socialmapping, Advocacy, in depth interview and focussed group discussion by & withrelevant stakeholders. During both exercises, the team enjoyed varying degreesof largely positive cooperation from all stakeholders, ranging from teachers,pupils and their parents, market women, religious and traditional leaders etc.Going by the comments of many of the participants and our teams observation,the positive response was due largely to the involvement of civil societyorganisation which they expect would lead to implementation ofrecommendation as compared to what they called the usual talk shop ofgovernment.

The 31 schools in our survey had a total population of 3,427 students/pupilscomprising of 1, 680 boys and 1, 747 girls. The schools had 484 teachers madeup of 84 males and 400 females. The number of classrooms ranged from as lowas one in Iwoye community school to the highest of 16 in Baptist primary schoolIjagbo.

There was a high commonality in the trends of responses obtainedfrom theparticipants at the various meetings whether they be parents, teachers, religiousand traditional leaders, etc. For an example, none of the respondents was awareof the concept, practice or duties of School Based Management Committee(SBMC). Also all are in agreement that the schools are in very bad shape both in

terms of infrastructure and quality of teaching. Some of the school buildings arenear collapsing e.g Odo - Ata and Iwoye community schools. The numeracy andliteracy skill is so poor such that in more than 80% of the schools, primary 4 andoccasionally primary 6 pupils cant spell or write the name of hisfriend/classmates and or read 2 letter words.

In terms of reasons/factors that are responsible for the above, they all put thebulk of the blame on government while apportioning a minor part to themselvesor as it is for the teachers who try to absolve self from any blame. The teachersand parents blame government for the deplorable infrastructure, and failure tosupply things as basic as books and other training software (teaching aids) thatgovernment had promised, thereby creating an environment that is not

conducive for teaching and learning.

The teachers blamed parents for not caring to get involved in their childrenseducation either in school or at home through assisting them in their homework (school assignments), as well as not providing their wards with ordinaryexercise books and pencil. Also most parents were reported not to provide theirwards with resources for mid-day meal, some are even said not to providechildren with breakfast before dispatching their children to school! Parents aresaid to condone or even encourage pupils absence from school. This calculatedto be about three days every fortnight through either mother taking theirchildren to the market on specialised market days or routinely following theirfathers to farm.

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Parents inclusive of the traditional and religious leaders claim to be aware of thegross incompetence and lackadaisical attitude of several of the primary schoolteachers. That several teachers do not come to school or are seen to come verylate and leave before school closes for the day. When the WOKFEI teams raisedthis issue with the headmasters, some of them corroborated it but felt powerlessto correct the situation. They gave examples of colleagues who had attempteddoing so but were instead victimised and punished by the god father of thosecommitting misdemeanours. Several were not aware that they could play anyrole in getting government to act and/or in checkmate the teachers throughmonitoring.

It is clear from responses during interview, discussion at the meetings as well asthe teams observation, that there is no gender discrimination in thecommunities. In fact the women are generally more vocal on issues that pertainto their childrens education than the men. The ratio of boys: girls in the schoolconfirm that the girls are equally in school. However the team observed thatthere is a lot of teenage pregnancy in the Yoruba communities while early or

child marriages were common in the Fulani dominated areas. The Fulanis alsoclaim they are reluctant to send their girl child (children) to school because ofthe usually long distance between the schools and their gaas (settlements).

They claim numerous incidence of rape committed against their children by theBororo cattle herdsmen.

During the advocacy visit and general enlightenment to the communities andtheir leadership, the WOKFEI teams politely created awareness of the deficiencyof the parent and community with reference to parents/communities inadequateactivity ref their pupils education and eventual generational powerlessness thatmay result. The team let each stakeholder realise where they were lacking andwhat could be done to alleviate the situation, for example money spent on

buying home video, watching football matches, etc could be spent on buyingbooks and other school materials for their children.

Based on the above most of them said that they will be happy to serve on theSBMC if so selected.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

PAGES

INTRODUCTION 6

ESSPIN REPORTING FORMAT 7 -12

BRIEFS ON EACH SCHOOL 13- 46

COMMUNITY SCHOOL ILEMONA 13

BAPTIST PRYMARY SCHOOL A IJAGBO 16

BAPTIST PRYMARY SCHOOL B IJAGBO 18

ANSARUDEEN AUD SCHOOL A IJAGBO19

ANSARUDEEN AUD SCHOOL B IJAGBO20

SURAJUDEEN SCHOOL A ERIN ILE21

SURAJUDEEN SCHOOL B ERIN ILE22

ANSARU ISLAM SCHOOL ERIN ILE 23

ADINIMODO COMMUNITY PRYMARY SCHOOL25

COMMUNITY SCHOOL LGEA ODO- ATA25

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BAPTIST SCHOOL ERIN ILE 25

IGOSUN BAPTIST SCHOOL 26

MUSLIM PRIMARY SCHOOL IGOSUN28

ST. MATHIAS PRIMARY SCHOOL ERIN IIE28

EMMANUEL PRIMARY SCHOOL ERIN ILE30

BAPTIST PRIMARY SCHOOL IPEE29

MUSLIM PRYMARY SCHOOL IPEE

30

COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL AJOKO BUDO ARIN32

COMMUNITY SCHOOL BUDO ALFA34

COMMUNITY SCHOOL ALAYA AYEKALE35

EBENEZER AFRICAN CHURCH SCHOOL ERIN-ILE

36

COMMUNITY SCHOOL FUFU-WARRI36

NOMADIC SCHOOL ERIN-ILE38

COMMUNITY SCHOOL ADELEKE 39

COMMUNITY SCHOOL AJOKO OJA40

MUSLIM COMMUNITY SCHOOL MUSLIM B ERIN ILE41

MUSLIM COMMUNITY SCHOOL A ERIN ILE42

COMMUNITY SCHOOL REKE42

COMMUNITY SCHOOL IWOYE 43

COMMUNITY SCHOOL BUDO GBADA 44

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COMMUNITY SCHOOL AYENI45

IWOYE COMMUNITY SCHOOL 46

APPENDIX 1 TRANSECT WALK/SOCIAL MAPPING

APPENDIX 11 ATTENDANCE LIST

APPENDIX 111 PHOTO SPEAK

APPENDIX IV - SCHOOLS ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTION

The serious decline in the standard of education is a commonly acknowledge factby all sectors of the society ranging from the political and ruling class to thepeasant farmers. Many factors and reasons have been adduced for thisdeplorable state of affairs. While the decadence is at every level of education inNigeria, any meaningful attempt to solve the problem must place due emphasison what happens at the elementary/primary school level because that is thefoundation.

The Government of Kwara State is proactive and has developed some initiatives

towards addressing the problem at this foundational level. The first initiativewas a World Bank assisted project that involved development of LearningOutcome Benchmark. The document contained the expected outcome ofnumeracy and literacy teaching for the Primary Schools, from Primary 1 toPrimary 6. Also with the World Bank assistance, another project that attemptedto introduce a dynamic and innovative management system, by whichcommunity involvement would be the hallmark of the school management at theprimary school level. The vehicle of the initiative was the setting up of SchoolBased Management Committee (SBMC) for each primary school.

Based on the prototype in the trial Schools/Local Governments, the Governmentextended the concept to more Local Government Areas (LGA). The Governmentof Kwara State and EESPIN a DFID programme that is active in the area ofeducation is partnering to do this.

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In respect of the above ESSPIN sought credible national NGOs with proven andtenured rural/community experience in Kwara State for the implementation offield level activities. About 48 NGOs were screened while 6, of which WomankindFamily Enhancement Initiatives (WOKFEI) is one were finally selected. Thecentral goal of the project is to create awareness, mobilise, and capacitate thecommunity to voice out their demands for accountability from the duty bearerswith reference to primary education/schools in their communities.

WOKFEI was assigned the responsibility to implement the project in 31 of the 75primary schools in Oyun Local Government Area.

This report is the outcome of the first phase that comprises of CommunityScoping & Awareness Visit, to mobilise communities to participate in managingthe primary schools located in their communities, explain the guidelines forSBMC formation & facilitate election of SBMC members for each school.

Name of CSO: WOMANKIND FAMILY ENHANCEMENTINITIATIVE

State: KWARA

LGEA: OYUN

Number of schools included in report: 31

Date of Report: MAY, 2010

Period Covered by Report: APRIL MAY, 2010

1. Activities Planned:

Date ActivityAPRIL MAY, 2010

Community scoping and awareness visits to identify gate

keepers and introduce mission (i. e. The engagement of

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community in participatory monitoring and managementof the primary schools in their community)

MAY 2010 Community forum meetings to explain the guidelines for

SBMC formation and facilitate the election of SBMCmembers of each school.

2. Activities Implemented:

Activity 1: (i.e. Community Entry Meeting)

Participants: 1 facilitator & 1 support staff from WOKFEI; 1SMO; Teachers; Pupils; Community leaders, Religious leaders;Community youths

LGEA School Men Women Boys Girls Total

Oyun St Mathias Sch Erin Ile 24 11 40 48 123

Emmanuel Sch Erin Ile36 16 26 34 112

Nomadic Sch Erin Ile 4 10 6 9 29

Ebenezer Sch Erin Ile 15 22 36 29 102

Muslim Sch A Erin Ile 8 18 38 40 104

Muslim Sch B Erin Ile 12 28 27 32 99

Community SchoolReke

17 12 6 10 45

Ansarul Islam Sch ErinIle

16 11 27 22 76

Community SchoolIwoye

10 11 2 8 31

Surajudeen Sch A ErinIle

9 11 36 28 84

Surajudeen Sch B Erin

Ile

10 28 22 29 89

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Baptist Sch Erin Ile 8 19 35 39 101

Community Sch Odoata

26 14 14 9 63

Baptist Sch Igosun 10 27 30 27 94

Muslim Sch Igosun 16 13 24 36 89

Community Sch Ajokooja

28 17 11 15 71

Com Sch Ajoko budoarin

13 23 6 3 45

Muslim Sch Ipee 16 14 26 35 91

Baptist Sch Ipee 11 32 22 18 83

Community Sch Budoalfa

12 11 10 8 41

Community Sch Fufuwarri

7 12 7 9 35

Community Sch

Adeleke

9 31 11 18 69

Baptist Sch A Ijagbo 29 11 42 28 110

Baptist Sch B Ijagbo 31 26 45 32 134

Ansaruldeen Sch AIjagbo

19 12 16 28 75

Ansarudeen Sch BIjagbo

38 16 41 36 131

Community Sch Ayeni 29 11 13 17 70

Community SchIlemona

19 31 32 21 103

Commu Sch Alayaayekale

18 10 8 14 50

Community SchAdininmodo

15 28 7 12 62

Community Sch Budo 16 9 9 16 50

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gbada

Community SchAsaoye

nil nil nil nil Nil

TOTAL 531 545 675 2,461

Achievements in relation to objectives:

The stakeholders in the communities were identified to be:

the traditional and religious leaders, the ex - pupils, the

members of Parents teachers association, the youths, the

artisans, the teachers, the pupils, and the wider

community. The exercise was conducted for 31 schools.

Advocacy visits were paid to the traditional rulers and thereligious leaders to explain our mission of mobilisingsupport for the every child counts initiative of the KwaraState government being given technical support byesspin. Their support was sought for mobilising thecommunity to participate in managing and supervising thecommunity schools. The elemona of Ilemona Oba Yusuf

Omokanye said that he had over the years observed thebad attitude of the school teachers in his community towork but did not challenge them because nobody gavehim the responsibility of monitoring them. Other rulers likethe Elerin of Erin Ile, Oba Jibola Olusookun ,the kings ofIjagbo, ipee, Igosun and the various Mogajis in the smallcommunities all realise that the weakness of the teachingworkforce greatly contributes to the poor performance ofthe pupils but they did not know from whom or where to

seek accountability.

The religious leaders in particular were lobbied to sensitise

the people to demand for accountability from the teachers

and the government. In the Fulani settlements, they were

lobbied to sermonise about the importance and benefits of

education (especially that of the girl child) to their

subjects.

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Women leaders were lobbied and sensitised to mobilise

other women to commit time and resources to the

children education and pay more attention to the girls so

as to stop the issue of teenage pregnancy that is rampant

in all the communities. They were sensitised on the fact

that quality education is the right of every child and so the

citizen should begin to VOICE out their demands to the

duty bearers.

Everybody in the communities was mobilised to

participate in ensuring:

Prompt resumption of the school and teachers at thebeginning of each term; That teachers attend school regularly and perform their

duties; That pupils are enrolled in the schools without problem,

attend school regularly and not skip schools on OWODEmarket days or follow their parents to the farm when theyare suppose to be in the school;

Quality completion of work in the school; That they Hold government and teachers accountable on

pupils attainment of Learning outcome benchmarks.

All were told the channels of communicating their demandto government. Their fears that government may see theirdemand as an affront and that such may becounterproductive to development of their communitieswere allayed by telling them that esspin is also sensitisinggovernment officials that it is no longer business as usualand that they should begin to react favourably andpromptly to the community voice.

The pupils were sensitised on the need to desire to learnto read and write. Our interaction with them in the variouscommunities revealed that most of them hold on to wrongvalues of knowing who the current movie or internationalfootball stars are and being able to sing the latest reigningsongs.

Owode market Offa that comes up every five days is beingpatronised by people from the neighbouring communitiesand even from as far as Lagos, Kogi, Oyo and Osun States.On market days, many pupils absent themselves from the

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school and no gathering could hold in any of thecommunities in Oyun LGA. It also account for absenteeismof many pupils from the various schools.Realising this phenomenon, WOKFEI decided to conduct

mobilisation campaign in the market. Surprisingly, theleadership of the market and some other women hadobserved this menace but were helpless. They were happyabout our mission and some volunteered their servicesand joined the mobilisation campaign round the market.(See box 1)

Challenges and Issues Arising:

Many people have lost trust in governance and they fear

that their voice could bring adverse effect on them and

the community.

The weakness of the teaching workforce greatly

contributes to the poor performance of the pupils.

The government claim to implement free education for allat the primary school level but pupils still end up payingsome levies PTA levy of two hundred and thirtyNaira(N230.00) and examination fee of fifty Naira(N50.00). The PTA levy is not used for schoolsdevelopment, only twenty naira (N20.00) is retained in theschool. Some Fulanis in Ayeni community withdrew their20 children from the school because of PTA levy.

Only 2 Head teachers out of 31 had seen the learning

outcome benchmark before we circulated it to them.

Revised school curriculum never gets to the teachers. The

supposedly new guideline for writing lesson notes is yet to

be seen by the teachers.

This is the last term of the year and most pupils are yet to

receive the class textbooks from the government.

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Regrettably, the issue of early girl - child marriage is still

common among the Fulani pastoralists in the Oyun LGA.

Many school structures especially in the remote

communities constitute environmental risk as they arealmost collapsing. Many pupils still sit on the floor for their

lessons at this age and time.

None of the schools is fenced and this is hazardous

especially in the towns where classrooms have been

turned to hemp smoking dens or temporary brothels by

miscreants.

The issue of automatic promotion of pupils whether they

fail or pass contributes to their unseriousness because

there is no challenge.

Key Suggestions to Address Challenges:

Each classs learning outcome benchmark should be

printed out boldly, circulated round the schools and headteachers mandated to paste such in each class. It should

also be made available to parents, the SBMC members

and the community leaders.

Government should endeavour to recruit and retain only

competent teachers and shun favouritism in the discipline

of erring teachers as suggested by many people in the

communities. It was alleged that some teachers that were

justly reprimanded in the past had facilitated the

punishment and disgrace of their supervisors.

The importance of girl child education should be

communicated to the pastoralists through advocacy to

their leaders and massive mobilisation campaign round

their settlements in the LGA (Religious leaders and

Women market leaders too can be lobbied to help)

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Renovation/provision of schools infrastructure and basic

amenities needs urgent attention. (Many of the deeply

located rural schools actually require new buildings as the

existing ones are beyond renovations.

Pupils who fail should be made to repeat the class. This

will challenge them and revive the spirit of

competitiveness.

Sensitisation of duty bearers to react favourably to the

voice of the people is essential for the success of the

programme.

KEY ADVOCAY ISSUE

Identify and solicit the sport of some indigene (individuals or groups) toadopt some schools towards providing needed infrastructural assistance,e.g in places such as Iwoye, Reke, Ajoko etc where pupils are still sittingon the floor. (We are confident that we should be able to identify a few ofsuch people)

Government to provide books promised, in the alternative parents shouldbe mobilised to provide some of the key books e. g English andmathematics books.

BRIEF REPORT ON EACH SCHOOL

1. COMMUNITY SCHOOL ILEMONA

Ilemona primary school was founded in 1947 through community effort beforegovernment intervention. It is located in the headquarters of Oyun Localgovernment area. The school is being manned by a headmistress Mrs Opatola V.F and 16 other teachers.

The pupil population in the school is 108 with population of the boys and girlsbeing 56 and 52 respectively.

State of infrastructure in the school

The school has a borehole that provides water, a modern VIP lavatory, anuncompleted home economics building and 6 classrooms and a non functional

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adult literacy centre. The school is not fenced. Observation shows that theinfrastructures in the school are well maintained. Our interaction with thestakeholders revealed that the school enjoys the support of the communitypeople through the Parents, Teachers association (PTA). We learnt that the homeeconomics building is being built by the community. The community also felled amature tree in the school compound and used the wood to provide windows anddoors for the classrooms. All doors and windows are in place. The communityeffort is commendable.

Literacy and Numerable ability of the school pupils

The pupils ability to read and write in the various classes is very unsatisfactory.It is as bad as primary 4, 5 and 6 pupils not being able to read 2 letter words.Although the teachers and the head teacher claim to do their workconscientiously, the evidence on ground as exemplified by the student ability isthe contrary. The reality is that the teachers are either incompetent or non-

challatant. However, it must be mentioned that a few pupils (thereabout 2%)show some level of understanding. One wonders how well those ones would haveperformed in a better environment.

Reasons given by the teachers for their pupils poor performance (though thismay be mere excuses to exonerate themselves) include factors such as:

irregularity of pupil attendance in school they follow their parents to

farm and market on Owode market days,

parents dont show enough interest in their childrens school work and

neither come to the school to monitor the performance of their children

nor turn up for PTA meetings,

Some pupils dont come to school with writing materials.

Parents dont like to pay for extra lessons which teachers are willing tooffer out-side normal school hours etc

When they complained that the pupils parents dont like to pay for extra lessonswe pointed out to them that if they the teachers do their work well within theschool hours, they will not need to organise extra lessons after school hours.

They were admonished to show more interest in their work to justify their pay.

Reacting to the complaints of the people that the teachers come late to workbecause they refuse to live in the community, the teachers complained thathouses in the community lack simple basic requirements such as toilet facilitieswith the exception of the traditional rulers house. They also complained thathouse rent in the town is very expensive and scarce due to competition foraccommodation from students of a higher institution in the town - College ofEducation. This was verified to be true.

Interaction with the community people

Most of the people that turned up for the meeting are retired civil servants whohave shown interest and have at one time or another participated in developing

the physical structures of the school. They were however sensitised of thenecessity to show interest in the academic performance of the pupils as well so

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as to ensure a better future for the pupils. They were made aware that thepeace and future stability of the community could be threatened as lack ofquality education could turn the children to miscreants in future.

Several of those present at the meeting expressed a load of complaints not onlyagainst the government and teachers but also against parents and the pupils

themselves. Some of their comments and suggestions are captured below:

The expressed view of Reverend John Makinde sums-up most of the commentsabout the teachers competence that the teachers attitude to work is very poor,that they dont come to work regularly and come late and leave early when theycome at all. He also observed that some of the teachers lack the competence toteach the pupils, some of the teachers can not spell correctly nor solve simplearithmetic problems. He wonders how such poorly trained teachers can beexpected to impart knowledge to the pupils.

Chief Abolarinwa, Mr Bolaji Ige , Elder Opatola and MR Oyegoge all corroboratedthe observations of Mr Makinde and said other contributory factors to include

nepotism leading to employment of incompetent teachers, frequent changing ofschools curriculum and text books, inconsistency in government policies andautomatic promotion of pupils whether they pass or fail.

Others also emphasised that 70 - 80% of the teachers in primary schools arefemales who cannot enforce discipline like men. The men they pointed out havemoved out of primary teaching line for lack of incentives to teachers.

The women on their own part expressed the views that teachers are not fearedby the pupils as before. They suggest that government should mandate teachersto introduce corporal punishment like canning and bush clearing for erring pupilsto enforce discipline. Mrs Oyegoke would want class test for pupils every Friday

and that teachers should also enrol their biological children in their school ratherthan private nursery and primary school.

Mrs Agboola the woman leader and also a retired teacher and formerHeadmaster of the school would want strict discipline of teachers to be enforcedirrespective of social status. She said some teachers who have God fathers areabove the school rules and that their attitude to work impart on other teacherswho also emulate the bad behaviour of coming late to work or not coming at all.She also expressed the desire that parents provide packed food or little moneyfor their children to buy food in the school and not encourage them to leave theschool premises during break time.

The facilitators sensitised them that they need to pay attention to the academicdevelopment of their children and other children in the community. They wereasked to discourage spending useful time watching film and football. We pointedout to them that while the pupils cannot read and write or list their schoolsubjects, they can list all the football clubs in the World and sing the reigningsongs. This shows that they are not dullards but are only directing theirattentions to the wrong direction.

Advocacy to the traditional ruler and the religious leaders

All expressed concern about poor attitude of teachers to work and the evidencein the pupils inability to read and write despite haven gone through primary

school.

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The traditional ruler the Elemona, Oba Yusuf Omokanye whose palace is on themain road confirm that he monitors the movement of the teachers to and fromwork that they are not serious with their work They come late to work andleave before closing time. He however said that he has never admonished themas he was not charged with that responsibility that he only visits the secondaryschool. He however assured us that henceforth, he will begin to monitor andreprimand them whenever he observes lapses. He said he would immediatelyappoint his representative for the SBMC and charge him with the responsibility ofvisiting the school regularly to monitor the schools activities.

The chief Imam who was said to be a very active chairman of PTA in the past isnow old but he directed us to the next in command who will monitor the schoolsactivities on his behalf henceforth.

The Christian leader, Reverend Cannon Jacob Oniyira corroborated the opinion ofothers and also expressed concern that teenage pregnancy is very rampant andthat the young boys move to Lagos to engage in menial jobs after leavingprimary school. He would have wanted a situation where they would proceed tosecondary school and higher institutions to guaranty stable future. He saidparents prefer to drink alcoholic beverages with their money rather than expendit on the education of their children. The few that choose to further theireducation have to struggle to train themselves. He promised to mobilise hiscongregation and other Christian bodies to participate in developing the primaryschool.

Further to the earlier sensitisation and the end of meeting recap about thebenefits of participatory monitoring of schools and the objectives of SBMC thosepresent expressed their gratitude. They are enthusiastic about the educationreform and will be happy to be involved in running the basic schools. They allpledge their support and commitment and wished they had realised hitherto theroles that could play in ensuring quality delivery of education in their community.

Each interest group was given the paper that states the objectives, the expectedoutcome, the composition and the criteria for selection of SBMC members. Theyassured us that by the time we come for Forum meeting they would haveconsulted wildly among themselves and be ready with the list of names of SBMCmembers.

Gender equity and inclusiveness

There is no gender discrimination in the community but the school like mostother school in Oyun LGa does not admit handicapped children especially thementally challenged ones.

Ijagbo town

Ijagbo is a big town that boast of many modern amenities such as hospitals,public and private schools, pipe borne water, electricity and other features of abig commercial town. Ijagbo has virtually merged with Offa Township with no

visible demarcation to non natives (residents). Education is said to be anindustry in Ijagbo as many homes can boast of professors and other highly

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placed public servants. It is located on the major federal road that links KwaraState with Osun State. Four of the schools where intervention will be carried outare located in Ijagbo. The schools are

Ansarudeen primary school A

Ansarudeen primary school B

Baptist primary school A

Baptist primary school B

Advocacy to the traditional ruler and the religious leaders

Advocacy visit was paid to the traditional ruler The Onijagbo of Ijagbo ObaSalawudeen Olagunju Adeyeye. Present at the meeting were some of his chiefsand other Islamic religious leaders. He blamed bad governance for poor standardof education and appreciates EESPIN and the British Government for their

technical support. He promised to choose his four representatives to the 4schools in earnest to be part of the schools Based Management committee. Hebelieves his inclusiveness will improve accountability in the schools.

The Chief Imam of Ijagbo was not available. His representative showedenthusiasm about the project and opined that establishment of SBMC in the

schools will bring in different expertise and perspective to school management which will

hopefully translate to betterment of the schools.

2. BAPTIST PRYMARY SCHOOL A IJAGBO

Baptist school Ijagbo was founded in 1937 by Baptist missionaries before theGovernment took it over. The school is headed by a headmaster Mr EnochOlaniyi. There are other 21 teachers, 3 Librarians and 3 security guards in theschool and 158 pupils out of which 78 are boys and are 80 girls.

The 1st Baptist church and Ibukunoluwa Baptist church which were theproprietors of the school are still actively involved in the management andprovision of basic infrastructure for the school. They were responsible for theprovision of iron doors and windows in some classrooms. When they observedthat vehicles drive through the schools during school hours with hazardousconsequences, and miscreants use the school premises as hideout for criminalactivities, they sought the assistance of old students to fence the schoolpremises. They however need government intervention in this area asneighbours are preventing them from erecting the fence on the ground that theschool now belongs to Government and not the faith based organisation. Thefencing project is suspended meanwhile.

State of infrastructure in the school

The school has5 blocks building of 9 classrooms, toilet and sharing bore holewhich are in various stages of dilapidation. Termites have destroyed manyclassroom roofs and some have actually given way. Pupils still manage to sit andlearn in some classes without ceiling while some classes are completelyabandoned. The school has a functional borehole and VIP toilet provided by

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UNICEF. There is also a school library that is equipped with fairly relevant books.One of the classrooms is being used for home economics lessons.

Community interest in the school

Interaction with the staff, proprietors and the parents shows that the school

enjoys the support and patronage from the 1st Baptist church that founded it,some old students and past teachers and headmasters of the school. Pa S. A.Adeoti who was headmaster in the 50 s is still actively involved in assisting theschool. The school proudly has produced many notable people in the societyamong who are professors and top civil servants.

Literacy and Numerable ability of the school pupils

Regrettably, the standard of education in the school has fallen to a level thatsome primary four pupils after writing their names cannot write names of othermembers in the class let alone reading their text books. Most of the pupils haveilliterate or fairly literate parents who cannot assist them with home work. None

of the teachers have their children in the school. Their children attend privatenursery and primary schools to receive better quality education.

Interaction with the community people

The church representatives, parents and other members of the communityblame government and lack of competence on the part of the teachers for thefalling standard of education. Mr Kayode Ajiboye , Deacon Oladapo and others

commented that government should conduct exams for teachers beforerecruitment and should enforce right attitude to work, Pa Adeoti admonishedparents to show more interest in their children education and stop depending ongovernment for the supply of textbooks which either do not come at all or at bestcome late.

The representative of Baptist mission Mr. Layi Olalere expressed appreciation forthe project which he believes is a step in the right direction. He pledged thecommitment and full support of the church for the participatory monitoring of theschool.

Interaction with the head teacher and other teachers

The head teacher claims he tries to ensure quality education in the school byenforcing the writing of lesson notes by teachers and monitoring them. Hehowever sadly pointed out that some of the teachers place themselves aboveschool rules because they have god fathers in the supervising ministries. Heeven claimed that those set of teachers cannot be disciplined at the LGEA level.He would want a situation where appropriate disciplinary action could be takenagainst erring teachers without fear. This he claims will make teachers morealert to their duties.

The teachers on their part claim they follow the curriculum in teaching, givepupils home work and use teaching aids to ensure easy learning by pupils. Someteaching aids were actually shown to us. They do not feel excluded from themain stream they contribute to decisions taken in the school throughparticipation in school committees.

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They however blame lack of interest by parents especially fathers to theirchildren education. They claim that many parents choose to spend their moneyon drinks (alcoholic beverages), marry more wives and buy aso ebi (ceremonialattires) than provide exercise books and other writing materials for theirchildren. They claim some pupils especially those from broken homes even cometo school without breakfast. Only few women are said to come to the school tocheck their children school work.


All the teachers say that girls participate more actively in school work than boys.This is probably due to the fact that boys tend to watch television more andshow more interest in knowing all the world football stars as our interaction withthem revealed.

The school has only one mentally challenged pupil. Another one who was said tobe more mentally derailed was sent away because he was disturbing otherpupils.

According to the teachers, women are more vocal during PTA meetings and bringsuggestions to better the school as they are usually the ones who show up. Themen do not show enough interest in issues that affect their childrens education.

3 BAPTIST PRYMARY SCHOOL B IJAGBO

Baptist Primary School B Ijagbo was carved out of school A during the schoolsexpansion programme of Kwara State government. It shares the same compoundwith Baptist primary school A. The school is headed by Mrs C. A. Dipe and has 22

other teachers and 206 pupils out of which 109 are boys and are 97 girls.

State of infrastructural facilities

The school has 8 block building of 9 classrooms at various stages of dilapidation.It shares these other facilities with school A:

Lavatory

Library

Borehole

Home economics building

The school also share the same PTA and a non functional SBMC with school A.


The community of Baptist church are the ones that show interest in the school.Parents and other people in the community have never shown any interestaccording to the HM.

Literacy and numeracy ability of the pupils

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The performance of the pupils is not different from what obtains in other schools,very poor. The pupils said their teachers attend schools regularly and punctuallyand give them home work, but that parents do not assist them with their homework. Some pupils follow their parents to Owode market and often miss schoolon market days. Very few of them have enough exercise books and all dependon government text books that they have to leave behind in the school afterschool hours. Parents do not tell stories to their children, they watch home videoinstead. They can name film stars but do not know the multiplication table or thewriter of their text books.

Interaction with the head teacher and other teachers

The head teacher, Mrs Dipe C. A. claims that she ensures quality education in theschool by monitoring the activities of the teachers with the assistance of herassistants. She also enforces the preparation of lesson notes and makes surethey are marked and corrected where necessary. She complained that some ofher teachers obtained certificates without the required knowledge. According toher she has to help some of them to write their lesson notes. She would wantgovernment to recruit only competent teachers and also tests to be conductedfor teachers after seminar and punitive measures introduced for failure.

One of the teachers, Mrs. G. B. Babatunde made particular reference to orphansand those who live with their parents as those who suffer neglect most. She saidthe teachers usually have to assist those ones with food and writing materials.


Girls are said to show more interest in school work than boys, and only mothersvisit the school and show concern about their childrens performance. Pupils arenot carried along in decision making in the school and at home while teachershave a voice in the management of the school.

4 ANSARUDEEN AUD SCHOOL A IJAGBO

The school was founded by Ansarudeen Islam community of Ijagbo.

It is located directly on the Ilorin Ijagbo road opposite Ansarudeen mosque. It isheaded by a Headmistress Mrs. L. D. Jimoh and has 19 other teachers and 120pupils out of which 58 are boys and are 62 girls.

AVAILABILITY AND STATE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE SCHOOL

The school has 5 block building of 7 Classrooms including a new yet to be put inuse block of Classrooms. The school has one but poor sanitary facility. Theclassrooms are badly in need of renovations.

LITERACY AND NUMERACY ABILITY OF THE PUPILS

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The pupils performance in reading and arithmetic are not impressive at all. Onlyfew pupils in primary five could read the class text book. Interaction with thepupils and teachers reveal that parents attitude to their childrens educationcould best be described as lazy ferric (lf??). Some pupils did not come to schoolwith writing materials while some wore torn uniform. Some parents do not botherto come to school to collect the pupils results because they do not want to payfifty naira (N50.00) examination fees.

COMMUNITY INTEREST IN THE SCHOOL

The Ansaru deen society of Ijagbo regularly sends their representative to theschool to monitor the schools activities. The teachers even claim the man goesround classrooms to monitor what they teach pupils. The ex-pupils on the otherhand have never shown any interest in the school. Other community people alsodo not feel concerned about what goes on in the school. They consider theschool as a property of government and the Islamic body.

INTERACTION WITH THE COMMUNITY

Opinion of community members is not different from what people say in othercommunities. They complain about government policy of frequent changes incurriculum and text books; policy of automatic promotion of pupils which doesnot give room for competitiveness; recruitment of incompetent half bakedteachers; lack of discipline among teachers. Prince Alhaji Fawuyi would wantschool instruction to be in the mother tongue for better understanding.

INTERACTION WITH THE HEADMASTER AND OTHER TEACHERS.

The head teacher claims to check lesson notes of teachers and make them signattendance register to monitor arrival and departure of teachers from the school.She also checks pupils notes to crosscheck whether the teachers have taughtthe right lessons.

The teachers complain that parents dont care about the pupils needs in theschool. They claim they sometimes have to provide writing materials to somepupils to make them participate in class work.

They wonder if this programme will not be like other government programmeswhere they only spend money on research and planning without implementation.

They were assured that since a foreign body is involved, it will surely get to

implementation stage for the benefit of all.

GENDER ROLES AND EQUITY CHALLENGES

According to the teachers and the pupils themselves, women show more concernand attend PTA meetings than men and girls are not left behind in participationin school work. Our deduction is that women in this community could be said tobe more vocal than men on issues that affect children. The grandmothersespecially were able to inform us that childrens themselves are not serious. Theboys prefer watching films and football while teenage pregnancy is rampantbecause the girls leave school premises to visit artisans who impregnate them.One father of a pupil says he does not need to visit the school except his childcommits very grave offence.

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5 ANSARUDEEN AUD SCHOOL B IJAGBO

Ansarudeen Aud School B Ijagbo was carved out of school A during the school

expansion programme. The school has16 teachers and 115 pupils out of whom60 are boys and 55 are girls.

The school shares the same compound with school A and also shares the sametoilet facility. The school is not fenced and so attracts miscreants who haveturned the classrooms to hemp smoking den.

AVAILABLE AND STATE OF INFRASTRUTURE IN THE SCHOOL

The school has5 block building of 9 classrooms, shares with school A and enoughchairs and benches for the pupils.


The pupils performance is very poor. Only very few pupils in primary 3 couldread 2 letter words and the situation is not different in other classes. It is indeeda pathetic case. One could see that the headmistress is helpless about thesituation. She would want some poor quality teachers replaced with competentones but she lacks the courage and voice to demand this from her superiorofficers who may count it as an affront. She welcomes the idea of having amonitoring body like the SBMC in her school.

INTERRACTION WITH THE COMMUNITY

The same Ansarudeen members presented themselves as the community forschool B.

Our interaction with them showed that they were not aware that they have theright to demand for accountability from the duty bearers. After our mobilisation,they agreed that we they failed the children by folding our arms and watchthings go bad.

Mrs Monirat opined that the invention of DVD and television eroded the age longculture of storytelling to children.

GENDER ROLES AND EQUITY CHALLENGES

Both men and women confirmed our earlier findings that there is no genderdiscrimination in sending children to school. Boys and girls have equal right andaccess to education. Mrs Saidat Ajayi and Chief R. Olabisi cited cases of girls whogot pregnant and were sent back to school to complete their studies.

6 SURAJUDEEN SCHOOL A ERIN - ILE

Surajudeen School A is located Erin Ile. It was founded by the Muslim communityof Erin Ile and was being managed by them before government take over. The

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school which has 19 teachers is headed by Mr. R. B. Yusuf. There are 116 pupilscomprising of 66 boys and 55 girls

Available and state of infrastructure

The school has 5 classrooms of its own and loans 3 classrooms from a nearby

quranic school to conduct lessons for pupils.

Literacy and numerable ability of the pupils

The situation in this school is very bad. No student in primary 3 could read oneword from their text book. Responding to our enquiry if she was happy workingin the school, one of the teachers- Miss. Lydia Olusola said the issues responsiblefor the pupils poor performance makes her sad. According to her she wasteaching in a private primary school before she got employed by governmentwith better pay package. Comparing the 2 situations now, she was happier in the

private school for these reasons:

Parents in the private school monitor their children and provide required

materials while those of public school dont bother;

Proprietors of private schools monitor their teachers without any

favouritism;

Each pupil in private school has his /her text books while public school

pupils wait for government books that never come at all or at best comelate.

Interaction with the community

The community do not consider it as their duty to carry out repairs in the schoolor monitor the teachers or projects. They see it as the responsibility ofGovernment and probably that of the proprietor. They heaped the blame for poorquality education on government and the teachers.

We sensitised them that they have a role to play in ensuring quality education intheir community school. We encouraged them to be part of the SBMC afteroutlining its objectives and the expected outcomes.

7 SURAJUDEEN SCHOOL B ERIN ILE

Located in the same compound with school A, Surajudeen school B is headed byMr. Jamiu Bello has 16 other teachers. The school has 113 pupils 54 boys, 59girls.

Availability and state of infrastructure

The buildings comprise 9 classrooms with only 4 in good condition. The sanitaryfacility is in a deplorable condition.

Numeracy and literacy ability of the students

The performance of the pupils in this school is too poor. The situation is so bad

such that primary 6 pupil not being able to write the names of ten of his

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classmates. As it is in other schools they could write names of football stars andsing latest hip hop songs off hand.

The teachers claim that they do their duty but the parents lack the interest toprovide required school materials of follow up at home and the school.

The headmaster would want the government to make available the newcurriculum and the guidelines for writing lesson notes as promised.


Only the Surajudeen Muslim community shows interest in the school. They aresaid to have contributed money in the past to carry out repairs and theyfacilitated the loaning of classrooms from a quranic school to augment what theyhave.

GENDER EQUITY AND INCLUSIVENESS

The parents, pupils and the teachers affirm that there is no genderdiscrimination in the school and the community. An imam of a mosque evenjoked that he prefers building the capacity of his daughters as they are moreresponsive to his needs in his old age.

8 ANSARU ISLAM SCHOOL ERIN ILE

Ansaru Islam school Erin Ile was founded by Erin Ile Muslim community with thesupport of Government. The community established the school and provided ablock of classrooms with benches and desks for the pupils while the government

pays the teachers. It is headed by a very dynamic lady in person of Mrs Yusufand has 13 other teachers.

The population of the school is put at 102 comprising 60 boys & 42 girls. Theschool attracts pupils from some pastoralist settlements scattered at the borderof Kwara and Osun states. This location affects the population of the schoolbecause the Fulani pastoralists prefer to educate their children in Osun Statewhere according to them, conditions are better school feeding for instance.

AVAILABILITY AND STATE OF INFRASTRUCTURE

There are 2 blocks building of 6 classrooms one of which is uncompleted and

toilet. Some classes have furniture while some students have to sit on the floor.The access road to the school has been washed away by erosion. The school alsohas a new lavatory provided by the government. The HM believes that provisionof drum set will entice more pupils to the school.


Though this school is situated in a much remote/rural than most of the others,some pupils in this school demonstrated better reading skill in comparison towhat obtains in other public schools in the town. This is probably due to the stiffcompetition they face from Osun State Schools around them, or theeffectiveness of the HM. However, the overall situation cannot be said to besatisfactory.

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The community of Islam that founded the school is well organised and committedto the progress of the school. Regrettably however, all the blame they have forgovernment for the falling standard of education, they do not know that theyhave a right to demand for a change and accountability from government. In the

past though, they have facilitated the removal of incompetent teachers and theattraction and retention of good ones even when government choose to transfersuch teachers to other schools. After charging them with our mobilisationmessage, they promised to intensify their efforts in participating in themanagement of the school.

Mr. Jimoh Ishola who spoke at length about lack of accountability fromgovernment was also particular about the contribution of many parents whom hesaid prefer to purchase film rather than spend such money to purchaseeducation for their children. He promised that henceforth, the message will beincluded in their sermon in the mosque.

The Fulani community on the other hand said they withdrew their children fromthe school to enjoy better schooling condition in Osun State schools nearby. Theymade particular reference to feeding of pupils by the government of Osun State.

Interaction with the Head Mistress and other teachers

There is clear evidence here that the teachers attitude to work is better thanother schools as confirmed by the performance of some pupils. They supplyexercise books and other writing materials to some indigent pupils to help themlearn. They however plead with the community to provide drums and teachingaids to attract more pupils to the school.


Boys and girls are treated equally by both parents and teachers. Mrs. ElizabethMalik cited cases of girls who got pregnant and were allowed to go back toschool after delivery. Children with disability are however not welcome in theschool.

9 ADINIMODO COMMUNITY PRYMARY SCHOOL

Adinimodo community school is located on the Offa Ogbomosho road. It is anagrarian community made up of crop and livestock farmers. The only modernbuildings in the communities are places of worship - a church and a mosque. Theschool caters for 3 communities namely Adinimodo, Sekongba and Gaacommunities.

The school headed by Mrs. C. A. Amodu has 8 other teachers and 84 pupils out ofwhich 44 are boys and 40 are girls

Available and state of infrastructure in the school

Only 2 block building of 4 classrooms are available in the school. Some of theclassrooms have no door or window. The whole environment is not conducive for

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learning. The community we learnt has never contributed to the development ofthe school. The school is surrounded by thick bush and overgrown trees.

Interaction with the pupils teachers and the community

The head teacher Mrs Amodu who claims to be ill has very bad attitude to work.

No teacher or pupil was present in the school at 12 noon. We had to call theteachers on the phone to return to the school. The pupils were not available inschool (probably haven been dismissed earlier than should by the HM), thereforewe went to the various communities to interview the pupils. The numeracy andliteracy competence of the pupils is extremely poor. Information gathered fromthe community is that they only go to school when there is no farm work.Parents claim they take the children to the farm because the teachers dontcome to school regularly. They believe the school is government property and soshould be maintained with government money. It was inquired of them, whetherthey were waiting for Government to come and clear the bushes around theschool premises!

They are not aware that they have a right to demand accountability from theteachers.

It is happy to note that our efforts advocacy and mobilisation in the communitiesyielded positive response. The situation had improved at the forum meeting aweek later. Many people including the community leaders turned up and becamevocal in admonishing the teachers and the parents who dont value education.


Boys and girls are said to be treated equally in the school and the community,but there is evidence of the women being voiceless when men are present. Some

privacy was required before they could voice their grievances against theteachers whom they said are incompetent. They appreciated our mobilisationeffort and promise to be more alive to their responsibilities.

10 COMMUNITY SCHOOL LGEA ODO- ATA

Odo Ata is located off the main road that links Erin Ile with the Local governmentHeadquarters, Ilemono. The community school serves 8 communities namelyAgo - eleko, Isale-ade, Ajolojuorun, Adiba, Isa-oye, Ago - olodo, Ago-panu And Idi Ose. Advocacy visit was paid to all the communities leaders and religiousleaders. The communities have no pipe borne water, tarred road or electricity.

The school founded in 1976 is headed by Mr. S.A. Oyeniyi with 7 other teachersworking under him.

It has a population of 50 pupils 22 boys and 28girls.

Availability and State of infrastructure in the school.

Only 2 classrooms 1 in collapsed, are used to conduct lessons for the 6 arms of50 pupils. Pupils are often taken under the trees for lessons. It is obvious whythe performance of pupils in this school is very poor. The learning environment ispoor and the teachers morale is low. The only school building can collapse anytime. Many in the community dont seem to value education. The teachers claim

to buy writing materials for pupils and often need to go round communities tobeg parents allow their children to attend school.

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Interaction with the communities

All the 8 communities visited had the same complaints about the poor learningenvironment. Government has never shown any interest in the school except theprovision of teachers. The only 2 classrooms were built by the communities. Thegirls are not safe as they are often raped on the way to school by the Bororo

pastoralists.

Evidently, the few people we met in the communities had mobilised others whoturned up for the forum meeting and showed enthusiasm about their inclusion inthe SBMC.

At the meeting Alhaji Ramoni Opeloyeru, a religious leader admonished theparents to develop interest in Western education to compliment the quoranicknowledge. He pointed out to them that the holy Prophet even encouraged hisfaithful followers to go as far as China to seek knowledge where necessary.

The pupils are also happy that their views will be sought in decision making at

home and in the school unlike what obtains in the past.

11 BAPTIST SCHOOL ERIN ILE

Baptist school is located along the Ilemona Erin Ile road. It is headed by Mr. D. O.Idowu with 20 other teachers. It is has 132 pupils 66 boys & 66 girls. The HM issaid to be a unionist who travels round the country to attend Nigerian Union of

Teachers meetings. The school is denied the modern structures that are providedin other schools in Erin Ile.

Availability and state of infrastructures

The school has 9 classrooms. This is more than what is required for the numberof pupils. Some of the excess classrooms are being loaned out as homeeconomics centre.

Interaction with the teachers and the pupils

The performance of the pupils is not better than that of other schools. The pupilsare too few for the available classrooms and 20 teachers. The teachers claim thecommunity dont show any interest in the school that parents never bother tovisit the school or provide needed materials for their children. Some parentswere said to have withdrew their children to private schools.

The only negligible support the school has is from the Baptist Church.

Advocacy visit to the Baptist Pastor and some other people around the schoolshows that they are not concerned about the welfare of the school. Theyhowever promise to be awakened to their responsibilities henceforth.

One of the community members and leader - Mr Oguntoye opined that the teamneed to do more mobilisation in the community to enable them know their rightand responsibilities. He said he is sure people will not show apathy if they knowthey can demand for accountability from the duty bearers on issues that doesnot affect them directly.


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Boys and girls have equal right and mothers are said to be the ones whoparticipate more at PTA meetings.

IGOSUN COMMUNITYIgosun is located between Offa and Ipee towns. It is a mixed community offarmers, artisans and traders. The community has a large number of places ofworship, both churches and mosques. Also, the community has many private andpublic primary and secondary schools. The traditional council is headed by theKing Onigosun of Igosun oba.............. A Chief Imam heads the other Islamicreligious groups while the Christians have many denominational leaders.

Advocacy visit to the traditional and religious leaders produced the samecomments of government lapses, teachers poor attitude to work andinefficiency, and parents and pupils lack of seriousness and interest in education.

They all promised to join hands with the government to monitor the schools intheir community and are happy to be invited to be part of the SBMC. Thereligious leaders promised to include the issue of participatory monitoring ofschools in their sermons.

12 IGOSUN BAPTIST SCHOOL

The school founded in 1935 by the Baptist mission is headed by Mr.I. A. Olaniyiand served by 21 other teachers. The number of pupils in the school is 80 - 38boys and 42girls

Available infrastructural facilities

The school has 9 classrooms of which 2 are dilapidated and not being used. Thelocation of the school in the centre of the town calls for fencing to stop theactivities of miscreants who use the classrooms for their nefarious activities

Literacy and numeracy abilities of the pupils

The performance of the pupils across classes was very unsatisfactory. Someprimary 2 pupils cannot count 1 100 or write the ABC Z. The pupils claimtheir parents dont check their school notes and/or care to know who theteachers are.


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Only the Baptist community is supporting the school. Others do not consider ittheir business to contribute towards the academic or infrastructural developmentof the school. They have observed that the teachers are not performing theirduties well but they feel they cannot monitor teachers that are not being paid bythem. They believe Government agents will not react favourably to their voice.

They were happy to know that they could correct the misdemeanour of theteachers and demand for quality education from government.

All accept their blame and promised to turn a new leaf of assisting their childrenwith homework and providing them necessary school requirements.

Interaction with the teachers

The HM and other teachers claim they perform their duties to the best of theirability within the limits of available resources. According to them, there are notenough textbooks for the students and teaching aids are inadequate. They alsocomplained about the unserious attitude of parents who fail to follow up on theirchildren or provide them with ordinary writing materials. The government they

say should make good its promises of remunerating the teachers better so as toattract male teachers.


There is no gender disparity in Igosun town. The women appear to be more vocaland more alive to their responsibilities on the issue of education. They show upin the school to check on the performance of their children. The men are toobusy pursuing their livelihood to pay attention towards that direction.

13 MUSLIM PRIMARY SCHOOL IGOSUN

Igosun Muslim Primary school was established in the Muslim community ofIgosun. It was later taken over by the Government of Kwara State. The school isheaded by Mrs. Oyeniyi who has 22 other teachers working with him.

The number of pupils in the school is 145 - 74 boys and 71 girls.Available and state of infrastructure

The school has 6 block building of 9 classrooms and 1 uncompleted block.

Numeracy and literacy ability of the pupils

A few of the pupils here can barely manage to read some memorised portion ofsome passages. They may not recognise or pronounce same words in othertexts. According to the pupils no one follows up on what they learnt in theschool, they engage in playing football, watching films or hawking after schoolhours. Very few have enough exercise books to cover the schools subjects. None

has text book purchased by parents. They are waiting for the government booksin the third term. The teachers claim some of the parents can actually afford to

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buy the text books but are either not enlightened enough or dont valueeducation. The teachers also pleaded for more teaching aids to be supplied tothe school.


Only the Muslim community has ever shown interest in the school. Others feelunconcerned. They do not consider the danger of not ensuring quality educationfor every child in the community. They blame the government for beingresponsible for the sorry state of education but fail to see that they have alsofailed to play their part.

After the teams presentation of every child counts and benefits of participatorymonitoring of schools, they admitted their guilt and are happy to be invited toselect credible representatives for the schools SBMC. However they weresceptical about the commitment of government in pursuing the objectives of theexercise.


Boys and girls are treated the same way at home and in school and the womenmade very useful contributions to the discussions. The women appear moreconcerned about the school and their children than the men.

14 St. Mathias primary school Erin IIe

St. Mathias School was established in the year 1921 by the Anglican mission andlater taken over by Kwara state government. The school is being headed by Mr.M. S. Ojo and 27 other teachers.

The population of the school pupils is 198, 101 boys and 97girls respectively.


The school has 3 block building of 9 classrooms, a modern toilet and a home

economics building. The school is located along the federal highway. Fencing ofthe school premises is needed for security of lives and property. Some of theclassrooms do not have windows and one wonders what happens when rain falls.


The pupils ability to read and write is very poor. Interview sessions with pupilsand teachers revealed lack of personal textbook for pupils to use at homecontribute to the poor performance. The teachers claim to be performing theirduty well. However was debunked by the parents, as they said the teachersabandon their duties and instead use the pupils as labourers, probably for farmduties. According to one of the mothers, the teachers bring melon and

vegetables to school for pupils to pick when they are supposed to be engaged inacademic exercise.

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Erin Ile community feels the management of the school is the responsibility ofgovernment and the church. Asked whether he has ever involved or seek theassistance of any member of the community in carrying out any project in theschool, the head teacher responded that he only involve the PTA and the church.Further discussion revealed that when he talks of the PTA, he means the PTAexecutive.


The community welcomes the idea of participatory monitoring of schools butthey seem to be more interested in monitoring the construction works than theacademics. They were not responsive to suggestion for inclusion of the schools

food seller who could easily assist daily monitoring as member of the committee.In response to an issue raised by an ex-pupil, we made it categorically clear allover again that the overall goal of the SBMC formation is to improve the qualityof education.

Mrs Rashidat Dauda said the idea of storytelling to children is no longer relevantat this age and time because of television programmes and home video.


All are treated equally in this school and town. The girls are said to be smarterthan the boys, and, the mothers follow up the children in the school more thanthe fathers. You hardly see men at PTA meetings except the executives saidMrs. Saheed A. M.

The school does not admit mentally imbalanced children. We were told that theimbecile that comes to the school only come at break time and the food sellerhas taken it upon herself to feed her. We encouraged the community to selectthe food seller as a member of the SBMC that someone who comes to the schooldaily can help them to monitor the schools activities.

15 EMMANUEL PRIMARY SCHOOL ERIN ILE

Emmanuel Primary School Erin Ile was carved out of St. Mathias School duringthe State Governments school expansion programme. The school, headed byMr. S. O. Ojo has 14 other teachers. The pupils population is put at 176 - 74boys and 102 girls


There are 2 block building of 8 classrooms and one toilet.


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The pupils performance in this school is also very poor. Regrettably the parentsdont seem to know the importance of primary education being the bedrock offuture attainments. They are not ready to sacrifice their time and money for thesake of their children. Interaction with the teachers and pupils revealed thatmost pupils dont have enough exercise books to cover the schools subjects.


The community of Emmanuel Anglican church is the only source of support tothe school. Observations show that they pay regular visits to the school toimprove the infrastructures. They are not aware that they have the right tochallenge the teachers to be more conscientious in their duties. We made themrealise that all the complaints of government lapses in the education structurecould only be improved if they voice out their observations and demand for thedelivery of quality education.

Mr. B. O. Farinde wonders what will be the result of monitoring a teacher that isnot paid by them. They were told that the SBMC is mandated to monitor all

activities in the school.

Mrs. Ruth Ogunniran would want the mothers to inculcate moral discipline intothe children more so that they could respect the teachers.


The community and the school treat all children equally. The school according tothe teachers enjoys the interest and support of mothers more than the fathers.

IPEE COMMUNITYIpee is an urban community that has the presence of social amenities likeelectricity, pipe borne water, public and private health facilities. It has 5 publicand 2 private schools.

Advocacy visit was paid to the community leaders to lobby and solicit theirsupport for the every child counts initiative of the Kwara State Government.

The leaders visited were the traditional ruler, the Imam and the Christianreligious leaders. The Alasalatu women group said to be of traditional andcommunity development potentials were also not left out.

They are all happy about the agenda of participatory approach to themanagement of schools. As part of the discussion, Mrs. Mojibat Jimoh expressedthe fear of politicians hijacking the programme and turning it into their usual

jamboree without any appreciable result. We made her realise that it is only thevoice of the community that can stop that.

The king Oba Muftau Adebayo Lawal opined that the programme was supposedto have come up earlier but nevertheless promised to select credible people torepresent him in the two schools in his community.

The chief Imam, Alhaji Abubakar Lawal said there is nothing powerful than anidea whose time has come. That God has chosen this time to answer his prayers

about falling standard of education.

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16 BAPTIST PRIMARY SCHOOL IPEE

The school was established by the Baptist mission before it was taken over by

the government. It is headed by Mr S. O. Ogunlade and has 25 other teachers.The pupils population in the school is 102 with 102 boys and 99 girlsrespectively.


The school has only 11 classrooms with benches and sufficient desks to go roundthe pupils. There is no water or toilet facility. The school needs moreclassrooms, fence, teaching aids and the renovation of the existing ones.

Literacy and numerable ability of the pupils

The performance of pupils here is not different from that of other schools. Theclaim of diligent service by the teachers does not reflect in the academicknowledge of the pupils.

The head teacher claims that his teachers write lesson notes and he monitorswhat the teachers teach the pupils in the classroom but there is no evidence toback up his claim.

Teachers claim that parents are invited to school to discuss the weaknesses oftheir children but most parents dont bother to come. Interaction with the pupilscorroborated what the teacher said about the parents lack of interest in theschool.

Out of the women interviewed, only Mrs. Elizabeth Wuraola visits the school toshow interest in her children education. A grandmother, mrs. Sabitiyu saidmothers will choose to buy ceremony uniform for and attend social functionsrather than buy books or visit their childrens schools.


The Baptist church supports the school to maintain the infrastructures. Apartfrom them no other person in the community has ever shown any interest in theschool.

The HM has never sought assistance from any old students and the school hasproduced many notable people who could assist the school.

The HM said he tries to interest the community in the school by inviting them tothe schools sports and social activities like end of year social programme.


Gender discrimination has no place in Ipee community and the school. Theteachers affirm that girls perform better when assigned leadership roles. Theonly issue is the problem of teenage pregnancy which disrupts girls education.

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17 MUSLIM PRYMARY SCHOOL IPEE

The school was founded by the Muslim community and later taken over byGovernment.

The head teacher Mr. R. A. Suleiman has 28 other teachers working with him.The population of the pupils in the school is 153. Boys and girls population are 69and 84 respectively.

Available and state of infrastructure

The school has2 block building of 8 classrooms. Each of the classrooms hosts atleast 2 classes.

Numeracy and literacy ability of the pupils

The performance of the peoples in this school is nothing to write home about.

Most of the pupils have illiterate parents who cannot assist them with homework. According to the teachers, only few mothers visit the school and apartfrom paying the PTA levy of two hundred and fifty (N250.00), they never careabout leaking roof or provision of teaching aids.

The men dont show interest at all in the schools activities.


The Muslim community and some parents who were interviewed blame thegovernment and the incompetent teachers for the plight of the pupils. Whenasked about what they have done to redress the situation, they displayed

ignorance about the fact that they could ask for accountability from the teachersand government.

The Alasalatu women group is however a force to reckon with in themanagement of the school. According to the headmaster, these women have somuch shown interest in the affairs of the school to the extent that no issue canbe concluded without involving them. The group leader Mrs Fatimoh Jimor opinedthat the learning outcome benchmark is a sign of good intension of government.

They are ready to volunteer their service for the progress of the school.

The community has confidence in the education reform agenda and wished ithad come earlier.


Girl child discrimination has no place in this community. The teachers trust girlsbetter with leadership position.

18 COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL AJOKO BUDO ARIN

Ajoko Budo Arin is a rural community located along igosun - Ipee road. It is

an agrarian community of crop farmers and Fulani pastoralists. It is a

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predominantly muslim community. The community is headed by a Mogaji, AlhajiSaka Sanni. The religious leader in the community is Immam Yusuf.

Both the Mogaji And the Immam support western educated but do not forcepeople to go to school. Those who opt for trade learning are allowed to do so.

They organise quoranic lessons in the evening after school to encourage children

to go to school in the morning hours.

They are concerned that teenage pregnancy is very rampant in the community.They both advocated for the provision of hospital where pregnant mothers candeliver safely.

The Mogaji would also want a microcredit bank in the community to improve thesocio economic status of his subjects.

Abduraimi Murtala, a university graduate who came around to visit his parentsopined that illiterate parents can not be expected to monitor teachers and helppupils with home work. The literates youths dont stay in the community

because there is job for them in Ajoko

The Ajoko community school

The school of 94 pupils is headed by Mrs O. Olaegun and 11 other teachers. 51 ofthe pupils are boys while 43 are girls.

Available infrastructure.

The school is in a sorry state. There are 1 block building of 2 classrooms withoutbenches and desks. Pupils sit on the floor for their lessons.


To say that the performance of the pupils here is poor is an understatement.Pupils in different classes could not be differentiated, when asked to read sometexts; they were all mute as if they have never been to school.

Interaction with the teachers

The teachers complain of lack of potable water and electricity in the communityand so can not live in Ajoko. They commute to the community daily and so oftencome late and close early.

They also complained that the Fulani parents give their daughter out in marriage

after primary six. The fulanis claim they do this because there is no secondaryschool in the community.

The head teacher remarked that parents, especially the Fulanis do not want tocommit their money to educational development of their children. She said sheoften provide writing materials for the pupils.

Interaction with the community women

The women did not voice their opinion in the presence of the men. When drawnaside, they were full of complaints against the teachers whom they say do notcome to the school regularly. As confirmed by some pupils, parents tell stories to

their children but do not help them with their home work.

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Mrs. Ajara Musa will want basic health clinic for the community to stop maternalmortality.

Mrs. Wolimat Raimi pointed out electricity poles that had been erected since1999 without provision of transformer to generate electricity.


Women in this community will need special mobilisation to give them a voice.They would want their girls to be properly educated but they are helpless. Theyare never consulted before girls are given out in marriage.

Underage marriages are very rampant especially among the Fulanis.

19 COMMUNITY SCHOOL BUDO ALFA

Budo Alfa is a rural community that lacks basic amenities like electricity, pipeborne water, or clinic. Communication service in the community is also epileptic.

It is an agrarian community of Christians and Muslims. The only school in thecommunity is the community primary school.

The community leader was not around for the advocacy visit, but we met hisrepresentative Mr. Jimoh Mohammed who was very enthusiastic about the everychild counts programme. He expressed concern about primary six pupils notbeing able to read or write and expressed confidence in the facilitators of theprogramme because it has the hand of the white men.

The community school

The community school is headed by Mr. J. O. Adeogun who works with 11 otherteachers.

The pupil population is 26 boys and 26 girls.

Available and state of infrastructures

The school has 6 dilapidated classrooms with few benches. Many of the pupils siton the floor for lessons.


Primary 3 pupils could not count 1 2 3 to to 20. No pupil present in the schoolcould read primary 3 text book fluently. The learning environment does notaugur well for teaching. Although the teachers claim to put in their best toensure quality education, there is no evidence to show for this.

Interaction with the teachers and the community

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Parents and the teachers traded blame for the current situation of poorperformance of pupils. Some members of the community also blamedgovernment for not providing books and competent teachers.

The head teacher commented that the community does not value education.They neither appreciate teachers nor provide school requirements for their

children. They do not bother to visit the school to check on the progress of theirchildren. He said he often go round the community to stress the importanceeducation.

The people are not aware of the roles they are to play in monitoring the teachersand providing basic amenities in the school. They thought the free educationprogramme of the government should cater for everything.

Mrs. Ramota Musa complained that the women in the community are notincluded in PTA. She is ready to volunteer her service to serve on the SBMC.

They promised to be alive to their responsibility now that they know better.


There is gender disparity in this community. Women are not encouraged to voicetheir opinion or participate in decision taken on issues that affect their children.

There is need for mobilisation to promote girl child education and advocacy toour duty bearers to establish a secondary school and health centre in thecommunity.

20 COMMUNITY SCHOOL ALAYA AYEKALE

The school serves 3 communities of Alaya- Ayekale, kotu and Gaa Kootu. Thecommunities are agrarian comprising of crop farmers and Fulani pastoralists. Thewomen indigenes engage in farming, locust bean processing while the Fulaniwomen engage in milking of cow and local cheese processing.

The School infrastructure

The school has only 2 functional classrooms and one uncompleted classroom.

Population

Pupils population of 125 out of which 55 are boys and 70 are girls.

Staff strength 6 teachers out of which 4 are females and 2 are males

Pupils academic performance

The performance of the pupils is below standard. The teachers claim of diligentduties does not reflect in the performance of the pupils.

None of the teachers in the school are graduates of English, mathematics and

sciences, teachers being having discipline such as religious and/or social studies.This affects the teachers output and ultimately the performance of the pupils.

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Interaction with the communities

Observations revealed that both the indigenes and the Fulanis value education.However they seem to be lacking in knowledge of their roles and responsibilitiesas parents and community leaders to attain quality education in the school.

An exception worthy of mentioning is that of the Magaji of Gaa Kootu AlhajiOkanlawon who claims to be training 3 of his biological children in tertiaryinstitutions and also training 6 other children from his community.

Community interest in the school.

The community consider the provision of infrastructures and monitoring of theteachers as that of the government.

After they were enlightened, they all pledge to volunteer their services to ensurethe delivery of quality education to their children. This suggests that had theyknown their roles and responsibilities, they would have shown more interest in

the community school.


The pupils claim that all their siblings have passed through schooling at one timeor another. There is no evidence of gender discrimination. The mothers morethan the fathers, according to the teachers show more interest in their childrensschool work by occasionally visiting the schools and attending and makingcontributions at the PTA meetings.

21 EBENEZER AFRICAN CHURCH SCHOOL ERIN-ILE

Ebenezer African church School Erin-Ile is located along Adamu Atta road, Erin-Ile.

The school with pupils population of 62 boys and 65 girls (127) is headed by MrsO. Oladejo who works with 21 other teachers.

Infrastructures in the School

The school has 10 classrooms with benches and desks and an uncompleted borehole provided under the MDG project. Ebenezer is an

baseline study into school based management committees in oyun lga, kwara state, nigeria

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