Premier Sch. Achara may seize to exist as sch. has only 2 teachers.
3 min read
There is a seriously disturbing situation Umuaka Times uncovered last week in Achara community in Umuaka Municipal Council. An official visit of a team of reporters from Umuaka Times to the Premier School Achara showed a lot of issues that need an urgent solution. The almighty Premier School Achara has only two teachers who handle both the nursery and the primary school classes of the great school. When the reporters went to the office of the Head Mistress Mrs. F.A Nnaji, to confirm the story, she told Umuaka Times that in Premier School Achara, one teacher Mrs U.C Awuzie, handles 6 classes from Primary 4 to Primary 6. While another teacher (Mrs R.N Egewusi) has been weakened a serious sickness and she no longer comes to school as a result of the sickness.
Another teacher known as, Mrs K.U Echefu has not received her salary in the last two years and she has stopped coming to school as a result of that also. The school now has only Mrs U.C Awuzie and Mrs K.C Madu as the only teachers in the school for the entire Premier School. The Head Mistress also told Umuaka Times that any day any of the two teachers fails to come to school, she as the Head Mistress, will handle some lessons for some classes and still carry out her administrative duties as the head of the institution.
The real situation at the school is serious and laughable at the same time. One of the two teachers handles Nursery 1 to Nursery 3 and at the same time, handles 3 classes in the same primary school from classes 4, 5 and 6. The Head Mistress confirmed to Umuaka Times that the whole classes are combined together.
Another issue that calls for a serious concern Umuaka Times discovered at the school was the issue of the security and safety of the pupils. Premier School Achara is very close to the Orlu Owerri Express Road. Children being what they are need serious checks on every activity they engage on but at Premier School, the case is different. There is no single male member of the staff of the school not to take of a security man. The Head Mistress raised fears that the chances that her pupils may one day fall into the wrong hands of child traffickers, ritual killers or careless drivers are very high. She also reported to Umuaka Times that on more than one occasion, she and the two remaining teachers have driven some mad men away from the school. In her own words, “This is dangerous. The mad people can injure or even kill any of the children here especially in this era of mkpuru mmiri induced violent madness.”
As the discussion with the Head Mistress about the real situation in the school continued, she told Umuaka Times that criminals pose a lot of dangers to them. “Some people go to the school to smoke hard drugs and cart away some government or school owned property.”
According to the Head Mistress, she has reported the situation at the school to the Achara community and to the education authorities but nothing tangible has come out of it. “The education secretary told us to employ community teachers but who will pay them? In fac,t we need 6 more new teachers in this school.”
Because of the ongoing contradictions that the Premier School Achara faces at present, many parents have withdrawn their children from the school and many more are preparing to do so. As at last year’s school attendance index, the total number of pupils at the school was 198, 96 males and 102 female pupils. This number is expected to reduce drastically when the 2022 school attendance index is published.
The Head Mistress in a passionate appeal to Umuaka Times called for a serious assistance or intervention from the community and stakeholders in education to come to their rescue. Umuaka Times understood that the issue of security is another headache that is supposed to make every Achara indigene to show a deep concern at the school. If kidnappers or child traffickers decide to turn the school to a “goldmine,” nothing whatsoever will stop them. There is no iota of security or protection for the children.
