Students of the Iwo Grammar School in the Iwo Local Government Area of Osun State are learning in classrooms that are falling apart, despite the school housing the abandoned multi-million naira mega school funded by the Rauf Aregbesola administration.
Located along Secretariat Road, beside Ansar-ul Deen Primary School, Araromi, Iwo, the school is one of the 13 public secondary schools within the LGA.
Bearing his mind about the condition of the school, Olusola Akande, an alumnus of the school, lamented the current conditions of the classrooms in which students were being forced to learn.
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“The condition of the school does not befit human beings, much less children in their impressionable years learning to become problem solvers,” Akande said while speaking with FIJ on Saturday.
“Attendance is currently going on in the school. You all should tell me or anyone that poverty of thoughts and mindset are not ingrained in our culture.
“The school used to be one of the top-notch public schools in the southwest, but everything has rapidly drifted south.”
Many of the classrooms currently in use mostly have no windows, doors and ceilings. In fact, some roofs are already leaking. But learning activities still take place.
Aregbesola conceived and sited one secondary school in each of the three senatorial districts in the state. One was situated in Iwo, being the headquarters of the Osun West Senatorial District.
Originally, the state government’s plan was to build the school on the premises of the Baptist High School, Iwo. Slava Yeditepe Projects Limited, the contractor, had started clearing the site before political and religious dynamics within the community forced the government to relocate it to Iwo Grammar School.
While the other two constructions in Osogbo and Ilesa were completed and commissioned before Aregbesola’s tenure ended in 2018, the school in Iwo was not.
Awarded at the cost of N2 billion, the U-shaped steel structure has 72 classrooms, a hall, office spaces, document storage, eight restrooms, sporting facilities, a borehole, a standalone transformer and firefighting devices.
Adegboyega Oyetola, who succeeded Aregbesola, did not care about the fate of the project throughout his four years in office.
Almost three years into the Adeleke government, there has been no visible attempt to put finishing touches to the public school and open it up for student enrolment.
FIJ had reported about the abandoned two-storey structure in 2023, spotlighting its bushy surroundings, falling windows and ceilings.
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When contacted in 2023, the government said it was going to work on all abandoned educational facilities in the state, including this mega school.
“The government will organise an education summit very soon to appraise the whole situation. Our appraisal will be comprehensive. Stakeholders’ deliberations at the summit will shape our next line of action about all the abandoned and functional educational facilities in the state,” said Education Commissioner Dipo Eluwode.
FIJ’s attempt to get Eluwode’s comment on this story on Saturday was not immediately successful. “I will call you back,” he said in a phone call. He had not done so at press time.
The post PICTURES: Osun Govt Leaves Pupils in Dilapidated Classrooms While N2bn School Building Stands Idle Next Door appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.