Parents of pupils at the Local Education Authority (LEA) Primary School in Gwagwa community, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), have expressed concern over leaking classrooms, calling on the Federal Capital Territory Universal Basic Education Board (FCT UBEB) to urgently fix the structures before the rainy season fully sets in.
Some parents who spoke when Abuja Metro visited the community on Monday also decried the dilapidated condition of several classrooms in the school.
They said many classroom roofs had been blown off by windstorms, making learning unconducive for pupils.
Mrs Asmau Abdullahi, a parent, said the poor state of the classrooms had continued to affect both teaching and learning.
She noted that teachers were forced to combine pupils into a single classroom due to leaking roofs, a situation she said has adverse effects on the pupils.
According to her, some of the roofs were blown off over two years ago without being repaired, while some classroom ceilings have also collapsed.
“And you can see that some of these classrooms whose roofs were blown off have remained in that condition for over two years. Teachers now combine pupils into a single classroom during lessons. This is very sad, and there is an urgent need to fix them, especially as the rainy season is about to fully set in,” she said. Another parent, Ibrahim Alhassan, also lamented the situation, particularly the leaking roofs.
He said that despite increasing enrolment, pupils face a shortage of classrooms for effective learning.
A class teacher, who preferred anonymity, said pupils are often crowded into a single classroom because of the damaged structures.
He said the congestion makes teaching and learning difficult.
“The problem is that most of the classroom roofs are leaking and, as the rainy season is about to set in, there is a need for the government to intensify efforts to ensure that the classrooms are fixed before schools resume for the next academic session,” he said.
The teacher added that most of the affected classrooms have been in that condition for over a year, noting that the school management had written to the FCT UBEB without any positive response.
Also speaking, the Chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), Garba Samaila, expressed concern over the deteriorating state of the classrooms, especially the leaking roofs.
He said the association had written several times through the LEA office in AMAC to the FCT UBEB, urging intervention, but no action had been taken.
Samaila, who conducted our reporter round the school, also lamented that some classroom ceilings had collapsed, further affecting teaching and learning.
“And I want to tell you that the PTA has written several letters through the LEA office to the management of the FCT UBEB to intervene in fixing some of the classrooms, especially those whose roofs have been blown off, but nothing has been done up till this moment,” he said.
He appealed to the FCT UBEB to urgently repair the damaged classrooms before the rains intensify, urging the board to utilise the ongoing school holiday to carry out the repairs before pupils resume for the next academic term.
Meanwhile, an official of the LEA office in AMAC, who preferred anonymity, told our reporter on the telephone that a request had already been forwarded to UBEB for the rehabilitation of the school.
“Actually, there was an arrangement regarding the rehabilitation of that LEA Primary School in Gwagwa, and I want to assure you that work will soon commence before the rainy season fully sets in,” he said.
Public Relation Officer (PRO) of the FCT UBEB, Lawal Ibrahim, could not be reached for comment as calls put across to his phone were not successful.
However, a senior official of the FCT UBEB who preferred anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to press, confided in our reporter that the board has already captured the renovation of the school and other primary schools across the FCT in the 2026 budget