INVESTIGATION: As Enugu govt turns to smart schools, existing public schools left in unsafe and degrading conditions (Part I)

While the Enugu State government is committing billions of naira to the construction of new “Smart Schools,” pupils and teachers in existing primary schools continue to learn in unsafe and degrading conditions. In the first of this two-part series, ARINZE CHIJIOKE looks at how schools lack basic needs like security, functional toilets, electricity, and weatherproof classrooms, exposing children to physical danger and health risks.

Ezekiel Thankgod, a primary six pupil at Airport Primary School in the Emene area of Enugu State, was excited to reconnect with his friends and return to class at the start of the second term of the 2025/2026 academic year. The school resumed on Monday, January 12, 2026. But when he walked into his classroom, his excitement quickly faded. All the windows were gone. Criminals had gained access to his class and several others, breaking windows. Parts of the rooftops were also pulled off and taken away. Even the window of the head teacher’s office was not spared.

Before the school vacated for the holidays, all the windows were intact. Now they had all disappeared because the school’s entrance gate had been left open throughout the holiday, with no security personnel on the ground.

But that was not the first time the school had been burgled.

For more than a decade, Airport Primary School Emene, established in the 1950s, has been plagued by repeated break-ins. A school official, Ebere Emmanuel (not real name), said that the problem has become almost normalised. She said that the school authorities started buying keys and locking the gate since she resumed in 2021, but the keys were broken each time.

“I called the former head teacher, and she said we would be tired and that the best thing was to let it be.  Our windows and doors are often burgled, not just during the holidays. As soon as we leave, strange faces begin to enter the compound; they know when we are dismissed for the day. We don’t have a security guard on ground.  They even destroy our books and files.”

Emmanuel said there had been stories of criminals even living in the compound during vacations. She explained that they would go out and steal and find safety inside the school, adding that strangers drink, smoke, and even urinate inside classrooms, creating an environment that is both unsafe and unhygienic.

Requests hardly receive attention.

Since 2021, Emmanuel said that the school authority had submitted several reports on criminal activities, either seeking permission to collect levies or calling for the government’s urgent attention, but she has rarely received approval. In July 2021, under the administration of former governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, a letter was written to the Chairman of the Enugu State Universal Education Board, requesting approval to collect a levy of N500 per child, after the School Based Management Committee (SBMC) met on June 23rd and resolved to fix broken doors and windows and renovate the toilet. The letter was approved on the condition that payment be made by each parent, not per pupil.

“We are grateful for your efforts to assist in the renovation of school facilities. It is expected that you put the money contributed by parents to good use”, Secretary of the board at the time, Dr Hyginus Eze, wrote in his reply.

Seeing that the government was not prepared to address the security challenges, the SBMC asked the school authority to find a security guard to protect their children only during school hours, as it was not the school’s responsibility to provide security. 

“They were willing to pay for that arrangement”, Emmanuel said.

On March 17, 2025, another letter was written to ENSUBEB, requesting approval to collect a levy to help employ a security man. The board refused in its April 7 response, stating that it does not approve the collection of a levy not approved or recommended by the government or recognised agencies.

“Even if we had approval to get a security man during school hours, it does not address the challenge,” Emmanuel said. “What we need is for the government to step in and employ a security guard who will be here both day and night.”

Back in 2014, Ngozi Orji, who was the head teacher at the time, wrote to the Commissioner of Police and submitted the request to the ENSUBEB for approval, seeking assistance after her office was burgled by criminals who stole the school bell, books, and 2 sets of metal keys.

In the letter, Orji said that it was not the first of its kind. She recalled a similar incident in 2011 when a criminal broke into the school, stole valuable items, and even burnt different books inside the school premises. In its response three months later, on January 28, 2015, Secretary of the Board, A.O Nwobodo, asked the head teacher to forward the complaint to the nearest police station for investigation. She did.

But years later, the issue remains unaddressed. Doors and windows continue to be burgled. The main entrance is always open. Now, Emmanuel usually comes out and sits in front of her office to watch and see who is coming in and going out.

“It is sad because in other schools, you have a security guard on the ground the entire day and night to help guard school property. He makes sure that you are comfortable whenever you come around for work. But it is different here.”.

She said it is normal for passersby to assume that teaching does not take place at the school because of its physical appearance. She adds that many parents have removed their children from the school because they assume that nothing serious is happening.

“Many of those who were considering registering their children have also had to rethink and go elsewhere, “she said. “The teachers are ready to work, but the condition is discouraging.” In terms of academic performance, our children are doing well because our teachers are committed.

With no running costs, education is not entirely free

Since coming on board as governor, Peter Mbah has constantly maintained that his administration will continue to prioritise the welfare and education of children in the state to give them a decent future.

His budgetary allocations to the sector have shown this. For instance, in the 2024 budget, the state allocated ₦134.5 billion to the education sector, accounting for 33 per cent of the ₦521.5 billion budget. In the 2025 budget, the governor allocated ₦320.6 billion to the education sector, representing 33.2 per cent of the total budget. In 2026, the governor allocated ₦521.5 billion (32.27%) of the ₦1.62 trillion total budget to the sector, exceeding the 15-20% recommended by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Sadly, while education funding is rising on paper, conditions on the ground tell a different story. Findings show that Airport Primary School receives no government funding for running costs, leaving teachers and parents to shoulder basic expenses. Teachers say they routinely buy chalk to teach pupils.

“It used to be a different story years ago,” a teacher recalled. “On resumption, the government provides cartons of chalk to schools, and that usually lasts till the end of the term.

Findings further show that they raised N40,000 to clear overgrown grasses within the school compound. And when they cannot raise the money, they burn the grass. Each child pays N500 for that every term. Without a cleaner, school children sweep the school compound themselves.

The school also lacks a functional toilet facility. Emmanuel told this reporter that the existing toilet block was renovated and returned to use, but it was later burgled. Doors, protectors, windows, and even toilet seats were stripped from the building, rendering it unusable.

Since then, both pupils and teachers have been forced to relieve themselves in nearby bushes. This has effectively turned the school into an open-defecation site, exposing children to serious health risks, safety concerns, and indignity. There is also no running water anywhere.

Behind the school building stands an abandoned structure, now overgrown with bushes, that findings show was intended to house additional classrooms. The existing classrooms are also not connected to electricity and have no ceiling fans, exposing pupils to severe heat during lessons. The head teacher’s office is also without power, forcing her to rely on a hand fan she purchased with personal funds whenever temperatures rise.

Nwabueze Jessica, a pupil who dreams of becoming a doctor, says it is common to see reptiles, such as snakes, crawling out of the building and approaching classrooms. She said that her parents almost took her to another school in Primary 4 because of the school’s infrastructure. But they later decided to let her finish her primary education since the teachers were teaching well.

“Once, we saw a snake trying to enter our class, our teacher killed it with a cutlass. We were afraid,” she recalled. “Some classes see it a lot of times.

At the practising school, head teachers contribute to roof offices

At the three practising schools located within the Emene area, the story is the same. An existing toilet facility has been abandoned after it was reportedly constructed without water. To ease themselves, teachers and schoolchildren say they use nearby bushes and an unfinished structure inside the school.

The schools also operate without any running costs. The block that serves the head teachers resembles an abandoned building, with leaky roofs. Inside the offices, there is no electricity. The classrooms used to have power, but findings show that they have all been vandalised.

The entire area, which houses three practising schools, is not fenced. And this makes it easy for vandals to break go in and destroy windows and other valuable property.  A head teacher (name withheld) told this reporter that they don’t leave any sensitive documents in their office.

Just beside the school, on the site of the children’s football field, a new Smart School is being constructed. But one of the teachers said that the neglect is not a result of the construction.

“We feel abandoned and uncared for by the government, “she said. “Several times, they have asked us to fill out forms with our needs and submit them; we have done all of that, yet nothing has changed. “They have also come to our school to take pictures and assure us of intervention.”

Another head teacher said that they always use their personal money to buy zinc and re-roof their offices whenever the rain pulls them off. She said that they ask parents to provide chalk when they come to register their children, and that is what they use to teach.

“We are barely trying to survive with the salary that we receive, yet we are forced to use it to maintain the school since the government does not pay attention to our needs”, one staff lamented.

Inside the school, this reporter observed that a new block of six classrooms, facilitated by Paul Sunday Nnamchi, member representing Enugu East/Isi-Uzo federal constituency, was not being used. When asked what the issue was, it was alleged that the lawmaker abandoned the project after discovering that the state government had begun constructing a smart school within the school.

This reporter reached out to the lawmaker to ask whether he was aware of the abandonment. He confirmed the allegations that he had been asked to halt the project, but could not say who had.  

“They said I should not go to the school again, as there is a Smart School. It was painful, though, but I did not know what to say,” he said.   

On Tuesday, April 14, this reporter visited the office of the chairman of ENSUBEB for an interview regarding the findings of this investigation. But it did not hold because he had a long meeting. On Wednesday, April 15, this reporter sent a text message to the chairman requesting an interview, but received no response. Several calls were not responded to. This reporter also called the personal Assistant to the chairman to schedule a meeting, but he was not always around. 

On April 21, 2026, this reporter sent a reminder to the chairman via text and WhatsApp and also called, but he did not pick up or call back at the time of this publication. On Monday, April 27, this reporter visited the office again after calls and messages were not responded to. The Personal Assistant informed the chairman that the reporter was waiting to be attended to, but he was in a meeting. Nearly an hour after the meeting ended, the chairman emerged, saying he had been summoned by the governor, and claimed he was unaware that the reporter had been waiting. 

Teachers not enough

Beyond the decaying infrastructure at the Airport Primary School and the practising schools visited by this reporter, there is a growing concern about a teacher shortage. The schools operate with far fewer teachers than required, forcing one teacher to handle multiple classes or to teach in overcrowded classrooms, which reduces instructional quality and places additional strain on already overstretched staff.

“We combine Primary 1 and 2, and Nursery one to three. In Primary five, we have just one teacher handling over 50 pupils and teaching all the subjects. They are often overwhelmed, “said Mrs Linda Okonkwo (not real name), who has worked at Airport Primary School for over a decade.

She teaches Nurseries 1-3. They all sit together and listen as lessons for each class go on. She said that head teachers have made efforts to get more teachers, yet nothing has been done about it.

Another teacher, Mary Augustine (not real name), handles all the subjects in primary five and says it can be overwhelming sometimes. But she always comes around because of her passion for educating the children. She, however, says that the government needs to look into the security challenge at the school because it is distracting to constantly monitor the school environment for strange faces.

“As soon as school dismisses, no teacher or pupil stays back; they all leave together, making sure to carry their belongings because you cannot come back again till the next day, “she said. “During weekends, you cannot come to work in school unless the boys who play football are around.

Augustine remains hopeful that the relevant authority will look into the issues affecting the school and proffer solutions.  

 

This report was produced with support from Civic Media Lab 

Editor’s Note: Names of some sources have been withheld on their request for fear of victimisation.