Education facilities in most of the public-funded schools in Kwara State are in precarious condition. Most schools there have not been renovated since they were established many years ago and are not adequately supported with facilities that will make education attainable.

The situation had greatly affected students and teachers to the extent that students from poor background find schooling unpleasant. A visit to some of the schools in the state, especially in the capital Ilorin, depicted how government's neglect left hundreds of classrooms in ruins in spite of the huge sums of monies budgeted for education annually.

In Model Primary School, there were over 20 classrooms out of which half were empty without furniture. Parts of the buildings including the windows and doors have broken down and no security guard was on duty to check the activities of miscreants who might be destroying the few facilities available in the schools.

The dilapidated state of some of the infrastructures in ECWA Primary School has resulted in students either sitting on the floor or standing during lessons. Also, tattered roofs and broken chalkboards characterised classrooms in St. Williams Primary School. Some classrooms were flooded as a result of heavy downpour while in others, there were big cracks in the walls.

Daily Trust gathered that some schools were renovated by individuals and private organisations as part of their corporate social responsibilities yet the absence of perimeter fencings or guards have led to vandals stealing or damaging most of the facilities installed. Hundreds of schools in rural areas, especially in Kwara North district, suffered more from government neglect and a source said, "Many teachers posted to rural communities to teach have turned down the offers."

These teachers were recently given special incentives introduced by the state government to entice them to go to rural areas. Apart from the infrastructural challenges facing these schools, Daily Trust also gathered that there were insufficient teachers for compulsory subjects like English, Mathematics and sciences.

Recently, the National President of Ilorin Emirate Descendant Progressive Union (IEDPU), Alhaji Abdulhamid Adi, said the union had distributed the sum of N1 million each to five community schools to improve their infrastructure.

"Most of the primary and secondary schools in the state are falling to pieces. There is no quality in their products which many believe is as a result of the weak measures taken by the state government towards education.

"We set up a monitoring committee that went round some of the schools within Ilorin metropolis and we are preparing a report based on our findings. It would be made available to the state government and we hope to adopt some of the recommendation to restore the lost glory of our public schools," the president said. Adi appealed to the state government officials to, as a matter of urgency, go round the schools, observe the situation of things objectively and proffer solutions to the challenges.

It was also discovered that as a result of the poor state of public schools in the state, many private schools with two or three buildings were established. Their fees are on the high side. Meanwhile, a source at the ministry of education who prefer anonymity told our reporter that the state government is already planning to improve the standard of public schools. The state government said a committee was set up to look into the situation and give pictorial evidence on the state of schools.

Special Adviser, Media and Communication to Governor Abdulfattah Ahmed, Dr. Muideen Akorede, said effort is in place to upgrade the standard of schools. "About 400 schools have been renovated across the state and the government planned to build additional 2000 schools and rehabilitate 1,100 other schools to ensure that they meet global standard. The student-teacher ratio will be improved.

"The government will also ensure that not more than 25 pupils sit in a classroom by the time it finishes upgrading the public schools. Public schools will soon be better than private schools," Akorede said.

He however disclosed that the government had informed the colleges of education in the state to admit more students who applied for the subjects with insufficient teachers in schools.