Public school suffers from poor infrastructure in Nigeria

A school based in a remote part of northeast Nigeria is pleading for government help as it struggles to survive amid a lack of basic equipment and a major shortage in staff.

The school only has three people assigned to teach 350 children — and a lack of running water.

Headmaster Ibrahim Babale told RT that the school did not have a functioning toilet or enough chairs. In addition, some of the buildings are rather dilapidated. 

“I want the government to do something, if it is possible,” Babale said.

Rahama Farah, the head of the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) office in Kano, said last year that there were “18.5 million out-of-school children [in Nigeria], 60% of whom — more than 10 million — are girls.”

Numerous schools have also faced attacks and kidnappings by jihadists, thereby discouraging some parents from sending their children to school, Farah told AFP.

Teacher Haruna Muhammad told RT that staff at the northeastern school were trying their best to teach despite all these difficulties, but that they hoped the government would step in and help them renovate the premises.