ESSPIN KWARA CSO PARTNERSHIP ON SBMCs

COMMUNITY SCOPING & AWARENESS VISIT TO SELECTED PRYMARY SCHOOLS IN OYUN LGA
A REPORT BY

WOMANKIND FAMILY ENHANCEMENT INITIATIVE (WOKFEI)

SUBMITTED TO

EDUCATION SECTOR SUPPORT INITIATIVE IN NIGERIA (ESSPIN)

27TH MAY 2010

EXECUTIVE SUMARY
The community scoping for the 31 primary schools assigned to WOKFEI for implementation took place between April and May, 2010, this was followed by the community forum meetings that took place from May 17 th to May 27th, 2010. The methodology tools used for the 2 exercises include, Transect walk, Social mapping, Advocacy, in depth interview and focussed group discussion by & with relevant stakeholders. During both exercises, the team enjoyed varying degrees of largely positive cooperation from all stakeholders, ranging from teachers, pupils and their parents, market women, religious and traditional leaders etc. Going by the comments of many of the participants and our teams observation, the positive response was due largely to the involvement of civil society organisation which they expect would lead to implementation of recommendation as compared to what they called the usual talk shop of government. The 31 schools in our survey had a total population of 3,427 students/pupils comprising of 1, 680 boys and 1, 747 girls. The schools had 484 teachers made up of 84 males and 400 females. The number of classrooms ranged from as low as one in Iwoye community school to the highest of 16 in Baptist primary school Ijagbo. There was a high commonality in the trends of responses obtained from the participants at the various meetings whether they be parents, teachers, religious and traditional leaders, etc. For an example, none of the respondents was aware of the concept, practice or duties of School Based Management Committee (SBMC). Also all are in agreement that the schools are in very bad shape both in terms of infrastructure and quality of teaching. Some of the school buildings are near collapsing e.g Odo - Ata and Iwoye community schools. The numeracy and literacy skill is so poor such that in more than 80% of the schools, primary 4 and occasionally primary 6 pupils cant spell or write the name of his friend/classmates and or read 2 letter words. In terms of reasons/factors that are responsible for the above, they all put the bulk of the blame on government while apportioning a minor part to themselves or as it is for the teachers who try to absolve self from any blame. The teachers and parents blame government for the deplorable infrastructure, and failure to supply things as basic as books and other training software (teaching aids) that government had promised, thereby creating an environment that is not conducive for teaching and learning. The teachers blamed parents for not caring to get involved in their childrens education either in school or at home through assisting them in their home work (school assignments), as well as not providing their wards with ordinary exercise books and pencil. Also most parents were reported not to provide their wards with resources for mid-day meal, some are even said not to provide children with breakfast before dispatching their children to school! Parents are said to condone or even encourage pupils absence from school. This calculated to be about three days every fortnight through either mother taking their children to the market on specialised market days or routinely following their fathers to farm.

Parents inclusive of the traditional and religious leaders claim to be aware of the gross incompetence and lackadaisical attitude of several of the primary school teachers. That several teachers do not come to school or are seen to come very late and leave before school closes for the day. When the WOKFEI teams raised this issue with the headmasters, some of them corroborated it but felt powerless to correct the situation. They gave examples of colleagues who had attempted doing so but were instead victimised and punished by the god father of those committing misdemeanours. Several were not aware that they could play any role in getting government to act and/or in checkmate the teachers through monitoring. It is clear from responses during interview, discussion at the meetings as well as the teams observation, that there is no gender discrimination in the communities. In fact the women are generally more vocal on issues that pertain to their childrens education than the men. The ratio of boys: girls in the school confirm that the girls are equally in school. However the team observed that there is a lot of teenage pregnancy in the Yoruba communities while early or child marriages were common in the Fulani dominated areas. The Fulanis also claim they are reluctant to send their girl child (children) to school because of the usually long distance between the schools and their gaas (settlements). They claim numerous incidence of rape committed against their children by the Bororo cattle herdsmen. During the advocacy visit and general enlightenment to the communities and their leadership, the WOKFEI teams politely created awareness of the deficiency of the parent and community with reference to parents/communities inadequate activity ref their pupils education and eventual generational powerlessness that may result. The team let each stakeholder realise where they were lacking and what could be done to alleviate the situation, for example money spent on buying home video, watching football matches, etc could be spent on buying books and other school materials for their children. Based on the above most of them said that they will be happy to serve on the SBMC if so selected.

TABLE OF CONTENT

PAGES
INTRODUCTION ESSPIN REPORTING FORMAT 12 BRIEFS ON EACH SCHOOL - 46 6 713

COMMUNITY SCHOOL ILEMONA BAPTIST PRYMARY SCHOOL A IJAGBO BAPTIST PRYMARY SCHOOL B IJAGBO ANSARUDEEN AUD SCHOOL A IJAGBO 19 ANSARUDEEN AUD SCHOOL B IJAGBO 20 SURAJUDEEN SCHOOL A ERIN ILE 21 SURAJUDEEN SCHOOL B ERIN ILE 22 ANSARU ISLAM SCHOOL ERIN ILE ADINIMODO COMMUNITY PRYMARY SCHOOL 25 COMMUNITY SCHOOL LGEA ODO- ATA 25

13 16 18

23

BAPTIST SCHOOL ERIN ILE IGOSUN BAPTIST SCHOOL MUSLIM PRIMARY SCHOOL IGOSUN 28 ST. MATHIAS PRIMARY SCHOOL ERIN IIE 28 EMMANUEL PRIMARY SCHOOL ERIN ILE 30 BAPTIST PRIMARY SCHOOL IPEE 29 MUSLIM PRYMARY SCHOOL IPEE 30 COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL AJOKO BUDO ARIN 32 COMMUNITY SCHOOL BUDO ALFA 34 COMMUNITY SCHOOL ALAYA AYEKALE 35 EBENEZER AFRICAN CHURCH SCHOOL ERIN-ILE 36 COMMUNITY SCHOOL FUFU-WARRI 36 NOMADIC SCHOOL ERIN-ILE 38 COMMUNITY SCHOOL ADELEKE COMMUNITY SCHOOL AJOKO OJA 40 MUSLIM COMMUNITY SCHOOL MUSLIM B ERIN ILE 41 MUSLIM COMMUNITY SCHOOL A ERIN ILE 42 COMMUNITY SCHOOL REKE 42 COMMUNITY SCHOOL IWOYE COMMUNITY SCHOOL BUDO GBADA

25 26

39

43 44
5

COMMUNITY SCHOOL AYENI 45

IWOYE COMMUNITY SCHOOL

APPENDIX 1 TRANSECT WALK/SOCIAL MAPPING APPENDIX 11 ATTENDANCE LIST APPENDIX 111 PHOTO SPEAK APPENDIX IV - SCHOOLS ANALYSIS

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INTRODUCTION
The serious decline in the standard of education is a commonly acknowledge fact by all sectors of the society ranging from the political and ruling class to the peasant farmers. Many factors and reasons have been adduced for this deplorable state of affairs. While the decadence is at every level of education in Nigeria, any meaningful attempt to solve the problem must place due emphasis on what happens at the elementary/primary school level because that is the foundation. The Government of Kwara State is proactive and has developed some initiatives towards addressing the problem at this foundational level. The first initiative was a World Bank assisted project that involved development of Learning Outcome Benchmark. The document contained the expected outcome of numeracy and literacy teaching for the Primary Schools, from Primary 1 to Primary 6. Also with the World Bank assistance, another project that attempted to introduce a dynamic and innovative management system, by which community involvement would be the hallmark of the school management at the primary school level. The vehicle of the initiative was the setting up of School Based Management Committee (SBMC) for each primary school. Based on the prototype in the trial Schools/Local Governments, the Government extended the concept to more Local Government Areas (LGA). The Government of Kwara State and EESPIN a DFID programme that is active in the area of education is partnering to do this. 6

In respect of the above ESSPIN sought credible national NGOs with proven and tenured rural/community experience in Kwara State for the implementation of field level activities. About 48 NGOs were screened while 6, of which Womankind Family Enhancement Initiatives (WOKFEI) is one were finally selected. The central goal of the project is to create awareness, mobilise, and capacitate the community to voice out their demands for accountability from the duty bearers with reference to primary education/schools in their communities. WOKFEI was assigned the responsibility to implement the project in 31 of the 75 primary schools in Oyun Local Government Area. This report is the outcome of the first phase that comprises of Community Scoping & Awareness Visit, to mobilise communities to participate in managing the primary schools located in their communities, explain the guidelines for SBMC formation & facilitate election of SBMC members for each school.

Name of CSO: WOMANKIND FAMILY ENHANCEMENT INITIATIVE State: KWARA LGEA: OYUN Number of schools included in report: 31 Date of Report: MAY, 2010 Period Covered by Report: APRIL MAY, 2010

1. Activities Planned: Date APRIL MAY, 2010 Activity Community scoping and awareness visits to identify gate keepers and introduce mission (i. e. The engagement of
7

community in participatory monitoring and management of the primary schools in their community) MAY 2010 Community forum meetings to explain the guidelines for SBMC formation and facilitate the election of SBMC members of each school.

2. Activities Implemented: Activity 1: (i.e. Community Entry Meeting) Participants: 1 facilitator & 1 support staff from WOKFEI; 1 SMO; Teachers; Pupils; Community leaders, Religious leaders; Community youths LGEA School Men Women Boys 11 16 10 22 18 28 12 11 11 11 28 40 26 6 36 38 27 6 27 2 36 22 Girls 48 34 9 29 40 32 10 22 8 28 29 Total 123 112 29 102 104 99 45 76 31 84 89

Oyun St Mathias Sch Erin Ile 24 Emmanuel Sch Erin Ile 36 Nomadic Sch Erin Ile Ebenezer Sch Erin Ile 4 15

Muslim Sch A Erin Ile 8 Muslim Sch B Erin Ile Community School Reke 12 17

Ansarul Islam Sch Erin 16 Ile Community School Iwoye 10

Surajudeen Sch A Erin 9 Ile Surajudeen Sch B Erin 10 Ile

Baptist Sch Erin Ile Community Sch Odo ata Baptist Sch Igosun Muslim Sch Igosun

8 26 10 16

19 14 27 13 17 23 14 32 11 12 31 11 26 12 16 11 31 10 28 9

35 14 30 24 11 6 26 22 10 7 11 42 45 16 41 13 32 8 7 9

39 9 27 36 15 3 35 18 8 9 18 28 32 28 36 17 21 14 12 16

101 63 94 89 71 45 91 83 41 35 69 110 134 75 131 70 103 50 62 50

9

Community Sch Ajoko 28 oja Com Sch Ajoko budo arin Muslim Sch Ipee Baptist Sch Ipee 13 16 11

Community Sch Budo 12 alfa Community Sch Fufu warri Community Sch Adeleke Baptist Sch A Ijagbo Baptist Sch B Ijagbo Ansaruldeen Sch A Ijagbo Ansarudeen Sch B Ijagbo 7 9 29 31 19 38

Community Sch Ayeni 29 Community Sch Ilemona Commu Sch Alaya ayekale Community Sch Adininmodo 19 18 15

Community Sch Budo 16

gbada Community Sch Asaoye TOTAL nil 531 nil 545 nil 675 nil Nil 2,461

Achievements in relation to objectives: The stakeholders in the communities were identified to be: the traditional and religious leaders, the ex - pupils, the members of Parents teachers association, the youths, the artisans, the teachers, the pupils, and the wider community. The exercise was conducted for 31 schools. Advocacy visits were paid to the traditional rulers and the religious leaders to explain our mission of mobilising support for the every child counts initiative of the Kwara State government being given technical support by esspin. Their support was sought for mobilising the community to participate in managing and supervising the community schools. The elemona of Ilemona Oba Yusuf Omokanye said that he had over the years observed the bad attitude of the school teachers in his community to work but did not challenge them because nobody gave him the responsibility of monitoring them. Other rulers like the Elerin of Erin Ile, Oba Jibola Olusookun ,the kings of Ijagbo, ipee, Igosun and the various Mogajis in the small communities all realise that the weakness of the teaching workforce greatly contributes to the poor performance of the pupils but they did not know from whom or where to seek accountability. The religious leaders in particular were lobbied to sensitise the people to demand for accountability from the teachers and the government. In the Fulani settlements, they were lobbied to sermonise about the importance and benefits of education (especially that of the girl child) to their subjects.

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 Women leaders were lobbied and sensitised to mobilise other women to commit time and resources to the children education and pay more attention to the girls so as to stop the issue of teenage pregnancy that is rampant in all the communities. They were sensitised on the fact that quality education is the right of every child and so the citizen should begin to VOICE out their demands to the duty bearers. Everybody in the communities was mobilised to participate in ensuring: Prompt resumption of the school and teachers at the beginning of each term; That teachers attend school regularly and perform their duties; That pupils are enrolled in the schools without problem, attend school regularly and not skip schools on OWODE market days or follow their parents to the farm when they are suppose to be in the school; Quality completion of work in the school; That they Hold government and teachers accountable on pupils attainment of Learning outcome benchmarks. All were told the channels of communicating their demand to government. Their fears that government may see their demand as an affront and that such may be counterproductive to development of their communities were allayed by telling them that esspin is also sensitising government officials that it is no longer business as usual and that they should begin to react favourably and promptly to the community voice. The pupils were sensitised on the need to desire to learn to read and write. Our interaction with them in the various communities revealed that most of them hold on to wrong values of knowing who the current movie or international football stars are and being able to sing the latest reigning songs. Owode market Offa that comes up every five days is being patronised by people from the neighbouring communities and even from as far as Lagos, Kogi, Oyo and Osun States. On market days, many pupils absent themselves from the
11

school and no gathering could hold in any of the communities in Oyun LGA. It also account for absenteeism of many pupils from the various schools. Realising this phenomenon, WOKFEI decided to conduct mobilisation campaign in the market. Surprisingly, the leadership of the market and some other women had observed this menace but were helpless. They were happy about our mission and some volunteered their services and joined the mobilisation campaign round the market. (See box 1)

Challenges and Issues Arising: Many people have lost trust in governance and they fear that their voice could bring adverse effect on them and the community. The weakness of the teaching workforce greatly contributes to the poor performance of the pupils. The government claim to implement free education for all at the primary school level but pupils still end up paying some levies PTA levy of two hundred and thirty Naira(N230.00) and examination fee of fifty Naira (N50.00). The PTA levy is not used for schools development, only twenty naira (N20.00) is retained in the school. Some Fulanis in Ayeni community withdrew their 20 children from the school because of PTA levy. Only 2 Head teachers out of 31 had seen the learning outcome benchmark before we circulated it to them. Revised school curriculum never gets to the teachers. The supposedly new guideline for writing lesson notes is yet to be seen by the teachers. This is the last term of the year and most pupils are yet to receive the class textbooks from the government.

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 Regrettably, the issue of early girl - child marriage is still common among the Fulani pastoralists in the Oyun LGA. Many school structures especially in the remote communities constitute environmental risk as they are almost collapsing. Many pupils still sit on the floor for their lessons at this age and time. None of the schools is fenced and this is hazardous especially in the towns where classrooms have been turned to hemp smoking dens or temporary brothels by miscreants. The issue of automatic promotion of pupils whether they fail or pass contributes to their unseriousness because there is no challenge.

Key Suggestions to Address Challenges: Each classs learning outcome benchmark should be printed out boldly, circulated round the schools and head teachers mandated to paste such in each class. It should also be made available to parents, the SBMC members and the community leaders. Government should endeavour to recruit and retain only competent teachers and shun favouritism in the discipline of erring teachers as suggested by many people in the communities. It was alleged that some teachers that were justly reprimanded in the past had facilitated the punishment and disgrace of their supervisors. The importance of girl child education should be communicated to the pastoralists through advocacy to their leaders and massive mobilisation campaign round their settlements in the LGA (Religious leaders and Women market leaders too can be lobbied to help)

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 Renovation/provision of schools infrastructure and basic amenities needs urgent attention. (Many of the deeply located rural schools actually require new buildings as the existing ones are beyond renovations. Pupils who fail should be made to repeat the class. This will challenge them and revive the spirit of competitiveness. Sensitisation of duty bearers to react favourably to the voice of the people is essential for the success of the programme.
KEY ADVOCAY ISSUE Identify and solicit the sport of some indigene (individuals or groups) to adopt some schools towards providing needed infrastructural assistance, e.g in places such as Iwoye, Reke, Ajoko etc where pupils are still sitting on the floor. (We are confident that we should be able to identify a few of such people) Government to provide books promised, in the alternative parents should be mobilised to provide some of the key books e. g English and mathematics books.

BRIEF REPORT ON EACH SCHOOL

1.

COMMUNITY SCHOOL ILEMONA

Ilemona primary school was founded in 1947 through community effort before government intervention. It is located in the headquarters of Oyun Local government area. The school is being manned by a headmistress Mrs Opatola V. F and 16 other teachers. The pupil population in the school is 108 with population of the boys and girls being 56 and 52 respectively.

State of infrastructure in the school The school has a borehole that provides water, a modern VIP lavatory, an uncompleted home economics building and 6 classrooms and a non functional 14

adult literacy centre. The school is not fenced. Observation shows that the infrastructures in the school are well maintained. Our interaction with the stakeholders revealed that the school enjoys the support of the community people through the Parents, Teachers association (PTA). We learnt that the home economics building is being built by the community. The community also felled a mature tree in the school compound and used the wood to provide windows and doors for the classrooms. All doors and windows are in place. The community effort is commendable.

Literacy and Numerable ability of the school pupils The pupils ability to read and write in the various classes is very unsatisfactory. It is as bad as primary 4, 5 and 6 pupils not being able to read 2 letter words. Although the teachers and the head teacher claim to do their work conscientiously, the evidence on ground as exemplified by the student ability is the contrary. The reality is that the teachers are either incompetent or nonchallatant. However, it must be mentioned that a few pupils (thereabout 2%) show some level of understanding. One wonders how well those ones would have performed in a better environment. Reasons given by the teachers for their pupils poor performance (though this may be mere excuses to exonerate themselves) include factors such as: irregularity of pupil attendance in school they follow their parents to farm and market on Owode market days, parents dont show enough interest in their childrens school work and neither come to the school to monitor the performance of their children nor turn up for PTA meetings, Some pupils dont come to school with writing materials. Parents dont like to pay for extra lessons which teachers are willing to offer out-side normal school hours etc

When they complained that the pupils parents dont like to pay for extra lessons we pointed out to them that if they the teachers do their work well within the school hours, they will not need to organise extra lessons after school hours. They were admonished to show more interest in their work to justify their pay. Reacting to the complaints of the people that the teachers come late to work because they refuse to live in the community, the teachers complained that houses in the community lack simple basic requirements such as toilet facilities with the exception of the traditional rulers house. They also complained that house rent in the town is very expensive and scarce due to competition for accommodation from students of a higher institution in the town - College of Education. This was verified to be true. Interaction with the community people Most of the people that turned up for the meeting are retired civil servants who have shown interest and have at one time or another participated in developing the physical structures of the school. They were however sensitised of the necessity to show interest in the academic performance of the pupils as well so 15

as to ensure a better future for the pupils. They were made aware that the peace and future stability of the community could be threatened as lack of quality education could turn the children to miscreants in future. Several of those present at the meeting expressed a load of complaints not only against the government and teachers but also against parents and the pupils themselves. Some of their comments and suggestions are captured below: The expressed view of Reverend John Makinde sums-up most of the comments about the teachers competence that the teachers attitude to work is very poor, that they dont come to work regularly and come late and leave early when they come at all. He also observed that some of the teachers lack the competence to teach the pupils, some of the teachers can not spell correctly nor solve simple arithmetic problems. He wonders how such poorly trained teachers can be expected to impart knowledge to the pupils. Chief Abolarinwa, Mr Bolaji Ige , Elder Opatola and MR Oyegoge all corroborated the observations of Mr Makinde and said other contributory factors to include nepotism leading to employment of incompetent teachers, frequent changing of schools curriculum and text books, inconsistency in government policies and automatic promotion of pupils whether they pass or fail. Others also emphasised that 70 - 80% of the teachers in primary schools are females who cannot enforce discipline like men. The men they pointed out have moved out of primary teaching line for lack of incentives to teachers. The women on their own part expressed the views that teachers are not feared by the pupils as before. They suggest that government should mandate teachers to introduce corporal punishment like canning and bush clearing for erring pupils to enforce discipline. Mrs Oyegoke would want class test for pupils every Friday and that teachers should also enrol their biological children in their school rather than private nursery and primary school. Mrs Agboola the woman leader and also a retired teacher and former Headmaster of the school would want strict discipline of teachers to be enforced irrespective of social status. She said some teachers who have God fathers are above the school rules and that their attitude to work impart on other teachers who also emulate the bad behaviour of coming late to work or not coming at all. She also expressed the desire that parents provide packed food or little money for their children to buy food in the school and not encourage them to leave the school premises during break time. The facilitators sensitised them that they need to pay attention to the academic development of their children and other children in the community. They were asked to discourage spending useful time watching film and football. We pointed out to them that while the pupils cannot read and write or list their school subjects, they can list all the football clubs in the World and sing the reigning songs. This shows that they are not dullards but are only directing their attentions to the wrong direction. Advocacy to the traditional ruler and the religious leaders All expressed concern about poor attitude of teachers to work and the evidence in the pupils inability to read and write despite haven gone through primary school. 16

The traditional ruler the Elemona, Oba Yusuf Omokanye whose palace is on the main road confirm that he monitors the movement of the teachers to and from work that they are not serious with their work They come late to work and leave before closing time. He however said that he has never admonished them as he was not charged with that responsibility that he only visits the secondary school. He however assured us that henceforth, he will begin to monitor and reprimand them whenever he observes lapses. He said he would immediately appoint his representative for the SBMC and charge him with the responsibility of visiting the school regularly to monitor the schools activities. The chief Imam who was said to be a very active chairman of PTA in the past is now old but he directed us to the next in command who will monitor the schools activities on his behalf henceforth. The Christian leader, Reverend Cannon Jacob Oniyira corroborated the opinion of others and also expressed concern that teenage pregnancy is very rampant and that the young boys move to Lagos to engage in menial jobs after leaving primary school. He would have wanted a situation where they would proceed to secondary school and higher institutions to guaranty stable future. He said parents prefer to drink alcoholic beverages with their money rather than expend it on the education of their children. The few that choose to further their education have to struggle to train themselves. He promised to mobilise his congregation and other Christian bodies to participate in developing the primary school.

Further to the earlier sensitisation and the end of meeting recap about the benefits of participatory monitoring of schools and the objectives of SBMC those present expressed their gratitude. They are enthusiastic about the education reform and will be happy to be involved in running the basic schools. They all pledge their support and commitment and wished they had realised hitherto the roles that could play in ensuring quality delivery of education in their community. Each interest group was given the paper that states the objectives, the expected outcome, the composition and the criteria for selection of SBMC members. They assured us that by the time we come for Forum meeting they would have consulted wildly among themselves and be ready with the list of names of SBMC members. Gender equity and inclusiveness There is no gender discrimination in the community but the school like most other school in Oyun LGa does not admit handicapped children especially the mentally challenged ones.

Ijagbo town
Ijagbo is a big town that boast of many modern amenities such as hospitals, public and private schools, pipe borne water, electricity and other features of a big commercial town. Ijagbo has virtually merged with Offa Township with no visible demarcation to non natives (residents). Education is said to be an industry in Ijagbo as many homes can boast of professors and other highly 17

placed public servants. It is located on the major federal road that links Kwara State with Osun State. Four of the schools where intervention will be carried out are located in Ijagbo. The schools are Ansarudeen primary school A Ansarudeen primary school B Baptist primary school A Baptist primary school B

Advocacy to the traditional ruler and the religious leaders Advocacy visit was paid to the traditional ruler The Onijagbo of Ijagbo Oba Salawudeen Olagunju Adeyeye. Present at the meeting were some of his chiefs and other Islamic religious leaders. He blamed bad governance for poor standard of education and appreciates EESPIN and the British Government for their technical support. He promised to choose his four representatives to the 4 schools in earnest to be part of the schools Based Management committee. He believes his inclusiveness will improve accountability in the schools. The Chief Imam of Ijagbo was not available. His representative showed enthusiasm about the project and opined that establishment of SBMC in the schools will bring in different expertise and perspective to school management which will

hopefully translate to betterment of the schools.

2.

BAPTIST PRYMARY SCHOOL A IJAGBO

Baptist school Ijagbo was founded in 1937 by Baptist missionaries before the Government took it over. The school is headed by a headmaster Mr Enoch Olaniyi. There are other 21 teachers, 3 Librarians and 3 security guards in the school and 158 pupils out of which 78 are boys and are 80 girls. The 1st Baptist church and Ibukunoluwa Baptist church which were the proprietors of the school are still actively involved in the management and provision of basic infrastructure for the school. They were responsible for the provision of iron doors and windows in some classrooms. When they observed that vehicles drive through the schools during school hours with hazardous consequences, and miscreants use the school premises as hideout for criminal activities, they sought the assistance of old students to fence the school premises. They however need government intervention in this area as neighbours are preventing them from erecting the fence on the ground that the school now belongs to Government and not the faith based organisation. The fencing project is suspended meanwhile. State of infrastructure in the school The school has5 blocks building of 9 classrooms, toilet and sharing bore hole which are in various stages of dilapidation. Termites have destroyed many classroom roofs and some have actually given way. Pupils still manage to sit and learn in some classes without ceiling while some classes are completely abandoned. The school has a functional borehole and VIP toilet provided by 18

UNICEF. There is also a school library that is equipped with fairly relevant books. One of the classrooms is being used for home economics lessons. Community interest in the school Interaction with the staff, proprietors and the parents shows that the school enjoys the support and patronage from the 1 st Baptist church that founded it, some old students and past teachers and headmasters of the school. Pa S. A. Adeoti who was headmaster in the 50 s is still actively involved in assisting the school. The school proudly has produced many notable people in the society among who are professors and top civil servants. Literacy and Numerable ability of the school pupils Regrettably, the standard of education in the school has fallen to a level that some primary four pupils after writing their names cannot write names of other members in the class let alone reading their text books. Most of the pupils have illiterate or fairly literate parents who cannot assist them with home work. None of the teachers have their children in the school. Their children attend private nursery and primary schools to receive better quality education.

Interaction with the community people The church representatives, parents and other members of the community blame government and lack of competence on the part of the teachers for the falling standard of education. Mr Kayode Ajiboye , Deacon Oladapo and others commented that government should conduct exams for teachers before recruitment and should enforce right attitude to work, Pa Adeoti admonished parents to show more interest in their children education and stop depending on government for the supply of textbooks which either do not come at all or at best come late. The representative of Baptist mission Mr. Layi Olalere expressed appreciation for the project which he believes is a step in the right direction. He pledged the commitment and full support of the church for the participatory monitoring of the school. Interaction with the head teacher and other teachers The head teacher claims he tries to ensure quality education in the school by enforcing the writing of lesson notes by teachers and monitoring them. He however sadly pointed out that some of the teachers place themselves above school rules because they have god fathers in the supervising ministries. He even claimed that those set of teachers cannot be disciplined at the LGEA level. He would want a situation where appropriate disciplinary action could be taken against erring teachers without fear. This he claims will make teachers more alert to their duties. The teachers on their part claim they follow the curriculum in teaching, give pupils home work and use teaching aids to ensure easy learning by pupils. Some teaching aids were actually shown to us. They do not feel excluded from the main stream they contribute to decisions taken in the school through participation in school committees. 19

They however blame lack of interest by parents especially fathers to their children education. They claim that many parents choose to spend their money on drinks (alcoholic beverages), marry more wives and buy aso ebi (ceremonial attires) than provide exercise books and other writing materials for their children. They claim some pupils especially those from broken homes even come to school without breakfast. Only few women are said to come to the school to check their children school work. Gender equity and inclusiveness All the teachers say that girls participate more actively in school work than boys. This is probably due to the fact that boys tend to watch television more and show more interest in knowing all the world football stars as our interaction with them revealed. The school has only one mentally challenged pupil. Another one who was said to be more mentally derailed was sent away because he was disturbing other pupils. According to the teachers, women are more vocal during PTA meetings and bring suggestions to better the school as they are usually the ones who show up. The men do not show enough interest in issues that affect their childrens education.

BAPTIST PRYMARY SCHOOL B IJAGBO

Baptist Primary School B Ijagbo was carved out of school A during the schools expansion programme of Kwara State government. It shares the same compound with Baptist primary school A. The school is headed by Mrs C. A. Dipe and has 22 other teachers and 206 pupils out of which 109 are boys and are 97 girls.

State of infrastructural facilities The school has 8 block building of 9 classrooms at various stages of dilapidation. It shares these other facilities with school A: Lavatory Library Borehole Home economics building The school also share the same PTA and a non functional SBMC with school A. Community interest in the school The community of Baptist church are the ones that show interest in the school. Parents and other people in the community have never shown any interest according to the HM. Literacy and numeracy ability of the pupils 20

The performance of the pupils is not different from what obtains in other schools, very poor. The pupils said their teachers attend schools regularly and punctually and give them home work, but that parents do not assist them with their home work. Some pupils follow their parents to Owode market and often miss school on market days. Very few of them have enough exercise books and all depend on government text books that they have to leave behind in the school after school hours. Parents do not tell stories to their children, they watch home video instead. They can name film stars but do not know the multiplication table or the writer of their text books. Interaction with the head teacher and other teachers The head teacher, Mrs Dipe C. A. claims that she ensures quality education in the school by monitoring the activities of the teachers with the assistance of her assistants. She also enforces the preparation of lesson notes and makes sure they are marked and corrected where necessary. She complained that some of her teachers obtained certificates without the required knowledge. According to her she has to help some of them to write their lesson notes. She would want government to recruit only competent teachers and also tests to be conducted for teachers after seminar and punitive measures introduced for failure. One of the teachers, Mrs. G. B. Babatunde made particular reference to orphans and those who live with their parents as those who suffer neglect most. She said the teachers usually have to assist those ones with food and writing materials.

Gender equity and inclusiveness Girls are said to show more interest in school work than boys, and only mothers visit the school and show concern about their childrens performance. Pupils are not carried along in decision making in the school and at home while teachers have a voice in the management of the school.

ANSARUDEEN AUD SCHOOL A IJAGBO

The school was founded by Ansarudeen Islam community of Ijagbo. It is located directly on the Ilorin Ijagbo road opposite Ansarudeen mosque. It is headed by a Headmistress Mrs. L. D. Jimoh and has 19 other teachers and 120 pupils out of which 58 are boys and are 62 girls. AVAILABILITY AND STATE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE SCHOOL The school has 5 block building of 7 Classrooms including a new yet to be put in use block of Classrooms. The school has one but poor sanitary facility. The classrooms are badly in need of renovations.

LITERACY AND NUMERACY ABILITY OF THE PUPILS

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The pupils performance in reading and arithmetic are not impressive at all. Only few pupils in primary five could read the class text book. Interaction with the pupils and teachers reveal that parents attitude to their childrens education could best be described as lazy ferric (lf??). Some pupils did not come to school with writing materials while some wore torn uniform. Some parents do not bother to come to school to collect the pupils results because they do not want to pay fifty naira (N50.00) examination fees. COMMUNITY INTEREST IN THE SCHOOL The Ansaru deen society of Ijagbo regularly sends their representative to the school to monitor the schools activities. The teachers even claim the man goes round classrooms to monitor what they teach pupils. The ex-pupils on the other hand have never shown any interest in the school. Other community people also do not feel concerned about what goes on in the school. They consider the school as a property of government and the Islamic body. INTERACTION WITH THE COMMUNITY Opinion of community members is not different from what people say in other communities. They complain about government policy of frequent changes in curriculum and text books; policy of automatic promotion of pupils which does not give room for competitiveness; recruitment of incompetent half baked teachers; lack of discipline among teachers. Prince Alhaji Fawuyi would want school instruction to be in the mother tongue for better understanding.

INTERACTION WITH THE HEADMASTER AND OTHER TEACHERS. The head teacher claims to check lesson notes of teachers and make them sign attendance register to monitor arrival and departure of teachers from the school. She also checks pupils notes to crosscheck whether the teachers have taught the right lessons. The teachers complain that parents dont care about the pupils needs in the school. They claim they sometimes have to provide writing materials to some pupils to make them participate in class work. They wonder if this programme will not be like other government programmes where they only spend money on research and planning without implementation. They were assured that since a foreign body is involved, it will surely get to implementation stage for the benefit of all.

GENDER ROLES AND EQUITY CHALLENGES According to the teachers and the pupils themselves, women show more concern and attend PTA meetings than men and girls are not left behind in participation in school work. Our deduction is that women in this community could be said to be more vocal than men on issues that affect children. The grandmothers especially were able to inform us that childrens themselves are not serious. The boys prefer watching films and football while teenage pregnancy is rampant because the girls leave school premises to visit artisans who impregnate them. One father of a pupil says he does not need to visit the school except his child commits very grave offence. 22

ANSARUDEEN AUD SCHOOL B IJAGBO

Ansarudeen Aud School B Ijagbo was carved out of school A during the school expansion programme. The school has16 teachers and 115 pupils out of whom 60 are boys and 55 are girls. The school shares the same compound with school A and also shares the same toilet facility. The school is not fenced and so attracts miscreants who have turned the classrooms to hemp smoking den. AVAILABLE AND STATE OF INFRASTRUTURE IN THE SCHOOL The school has5 block building of 9 classrooms, shares with school A and enough chairs and benches for the pupils. LITERACY AND NUMERACY ABILITY OF THE PUPILS The pupils performance is very poor. Only very few pupils in primary 3 could read 2 letter words and the situation is not different in other classes. It is indeed a pathetic case. One could see that the headmistress is helpless about the situation. She would want some poor quality teachers replaced with competent ones but she lacks the courage and voice to demand this from her superior officers who may count it as an affront. She welcomes the idea of having a monitoring body like the SBMC in her school.

INTERRACTION WITH THE COMMUNITY The same Ansarudeen members presented themselves as the community for school B. Our interaction with them showed that they were not aware that they have the right to demand for accountability from the duty bearers. After our mobilisation, they agreed that we they failed the children by folding our arms and watch things go bad. Mrs Monirat opined that the invention of DVD and television eroded the age long culture of storytelling to children.

GENDER ROLES AND EQUITY CHALLENGES Both men and women confirmed our earlier findings that there is no gender discrimination in sending children to school. Boys and girls have equal right and access to education. Mrs Saidat Ajayi and Chief R. Olabisi cited cases of girls who got pregnant and were sent back to school to complete their studies.

SURAJUDEEN SCHOOL A ERIN - ILE

Surajudeen School A is located Erin Ile. It was founded by the Muslim community of Erin Ile and was being managed by them before government take over. The 23

school which has 19 teachers is headed by Mr. R. B. Yusuf. There are 116 pupils comprising of 66 boys and 55 girls Available and state of infrastructure The school has 5 classrooms of its own and loans 3 classrooms from a nearby quranic school to conduct lessons for pupils.

Literacy and numerable ability of the pupils The situation in this school is very bad. No student in primary 3 could read one word from their text book. Responding to our enquiry if she was happy working in the school, one of the teachers- Miss. Lydia Olusola said the issues responsible for the pupils poor performance makes her sad. According to her she was teaching in a private primary school before she got employed by government with better pay package. Comparing the 2 situations now, she was happier in the private school for these reasons: Parents in the private school monitor their children and provide required materials while those of public school dont bother; Proprietors of private schools monitor their teachers without any favouritism; Each pupil in private school has his /her text books while public school pupils wait for government books that never come at all or at best come late.

Interaction with the community The community do not consider it as their duty to carry out repairs in the school or monitor the teachers or projects. They see it as the responsibility of Government and probably that of the proprietor. They heaped the blame for poor quality education on government and the teachers. We sensitised them that they have a role to play in ensuring quality education in their community school. We encouraged them to be part of the SBMC after outlining its objectives and the expected outcomes.

SURAJUDEEN SCHOOL B ERIN ILE

Located in the same compound with school A, Surajudeen school B is headed by Mr. Jamiu Bello has 16 other teachers. The school has 113 pupils 54 boys, 59 girls. Availability and state of infrastructure The buildings comprise 9 classrooms with only 4 in good condition. The sanitary facility is in a deplorable condition. Numeracy and literacy ability of the students The performance of the pupils in this school is too poor. The situation is so bad such that primary 6 pupil not being able to write the names of ten of his 24

classmates. As it is in other schools they could write names of football stars and sing latest hip hop songs off hand. The teachers claim that they do their duty but the parents lack the interest to provide required school materials of follow up at home and the school. The headmaster would want the government to make available the new curriculum and the guidelines for writing lesson notes as promised. Community interest in the school Only the Surajudeen Muslim community shows interest in the school. They are said to have contributed money in the past to carry out repairs and they facilitated the loaning of classrooms from a quranic school to augment what they have. GENDER EQUITY AND INCLUSIVENESS The parents, pupils and the teachers affirm that there is no gender discrimination in the school and the community. An imam of a mosque even joked that he prefers building the capacity of his daughters as they are more responsive to his needs in his old age.

ANSARU ISLAM SCHOOL ERIN ILE

Ansaru Islam school Erin Ile was founded by Erin Ile Muslim community with the support of Government. The community established the school and provided a block of classrooms with benches and desks for the pupils while the government pays the teachers. It is headed by a very dynamic lady in person of Mrs Yusuf and has 13 other teachers. The population of the school is put at 102 comprising 60 boys & 42 girls. The school attracts pupils from some pastoralist settlements scattered at the border of Kwara and Osun states. This location affects the population of the school because the Fulani pastoralists prefer to educate their children in Osun State where according to them, conditions are better school feeding for instance. AVAILABILITY AND STATE OF INFRASTRUCTURE There are 2 blocks building of 6 classrooms one of which is uncompleted and toilet. Some classes have furniture while some students have to sit on the floor. The access road to the school has been washed away by erosion. The school also has a new lavatory provided by the government. The HM believes that provision of drum set will entice more pupils to the school. LITERACY AND NUMERACY ABILITY OF THE PUPILS Though this school is situated in a much remote/rural than most of the others, some pupils in this school demonstrated better reading skill in comparison to what obtains in other public schools in the town. This is probably due to the stiff competition they face from Osun State Schools around them, or the effectiveness of the HM. However, the overall situation cannot be said to be satisfactory.

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Interaction with the community The community of Islam that founded the school is well organised and committed to the progress of the school. Regrettably however, all the blame they have for government for the falling standard of education, they do not know that they have a right to demand for a change and accountability from government. In the past though, they have facilitated the removal of incompetent teachers and the attraction and retention of good ones even when government choose to transfer such teachers to other schools. After charging them with our mobilisation message, they promised to intensify their efforts in participating in the management of the school. Mr. Jimoh Ishola who spoke at length about lack of accountability from government was also particular about the contribution of many parents whom he said prefer to purchase film rather than spend such money to purchase education for their children. He promised that henceforth, the message will be included in their sermon in the mosque. The Fulani community on the other hand said they withdrew their children from the school to enjoy better schooling condition in Osun State schools nearby. They made particular reference to feeding of pupils by the government of Osun State. Interaction with the Head Mistress and other teachers There is clear evidence here that the teachers attitude to work is better than other schools as confirmed by the performance of some pupils. They supply exercise books and other writing materials to some indigent pupils to help them learn. They however plead with the community to provide drums and teaching aids to attract more pupils to the school.

Gender equity and inclusiveness Boys and girls are treated equally by both parents and teachers. Mrs. Elizabeth Malik cited cases of girls who got pregnant and were allowed to go back to school after delivery. Children with disability are however not welcome in the school.

ADINIMODO COMMUNITY PRYMARY SCHOOL

Adinimodo community school is located on the Offa Ogbomosho road. It is an agrarian community made up of crop and livestock farmers. The only modern buildings in the communities are places of worship - a church and a mosque. The school caters for 3 communities namely Adinimodo, Sekongba and Gaa communities. The school headed by Mrs. C. A. Amodu has 8 other teachers and 84 pupils out of which 44 are boys and 40 are girls Available and state of infrastructure in the school Only 2 block building of 4 classrooms are available in the school. Some of the classrooms have no door or window. The whole environment is not conducive for 26

learning. The community we learnt has never contributed to the development of the school. The school is surrounded by thick bush and overgrown trees. Interaction with the pupils teachers and the community The head teacher Mrs Amodu who claims to be ill has very bad attitude to work. No teacher or pupil was present in the school at 12 noon. We had to call the teachers on the phone to return to the school. The pupils were not available in school (probably haven been dismissed earlier than should by the HM), therefore we went to the various communities to interview the pupils. The numeracy and literacy competence of the pupils is extremely poor. Information gathered from the community is that they only go to school when there is no farm work. Parents claim they take the children to the farm because the teachers dont come to school regularly. They believe the school is government property and so should be maintained with government money. It was inquired of them, whether they were waiting for Government to come and clear the bushes around the school premises! They are not aware that they have a right to demand accountability from the teachers. It is happy to note that our efforts advocacy and mobilisation in the communities yielded positive response. The situation had improved at the forum meeting a week later. Many people including the community leaders turned up and became vocal in admonishing the teachers and the parents who dont value education. Gender equity and inclusiveness Boys and girls are said to be treated equally in the school and the community, but there is evidence of the women being voiceless when men are present. Some privacy was required before they could voice their grievances against the teachers whom they said are incompetent. They appreciated our mobilisation effort and promise to be more alive to their responsibilities.

10 COMMUNITY SCHOOL LGEA ODO- ATA

Odo Ata is located off the main road that links Erin Ile with the Local government Headquarters, Ilemono. The community school serves 8 communities namely Ago - eleko, Isale-ade, Ajolojuorun, Adiba, Isa-oye, Ago - olodo, Ago-panu And Idi Ose. Advocacy visit was paid to all the communities leaders and religious leaders. The communities have no pipe borne water, tarred road or electricity. The school founded in 1976 is headed by Mr. S.A. Oyeniyi with 7 other teachers working under him. It has a population of 50 pupils 22 boys and 28girls. Availability and State of infrastructure in the school. Only 2 classrooms 1 in collapsed, are used to conduct lessons for the 6 arms of 50 pupils. Pupils are often taken under the trees for lessons. It is obvious why the performance of pupils in this school is very poor. The learning environment is poor and the teachers morale is low. The only school building can collapse any time. Many in the community dont seem to value education. The teachers claim to buy writing materials for pupils and often need to go round communities to beg parents allow their children to attend school. 27

Interaction with the communities All the 8 communities visited had the same complaints about the poor learning environment. Government has never shown any interest in the school except the provision of teachers. The only 2 classrooms were built by the communities. The girls are not safe as they are often raped on the way to school by the Bororo pastoralists. Evidently, the few people we met in the communities had mobilised others who turned up for the forum meeting and showed enthusiasm about their inclusion in the SBMC. At the meeting Alhaji Ramoni Opeloyeru, a religious leader admonished the parents to develop interest in Western education to compliment the quoranic knowledge. He pointed out to them that the holy Prophet even encouraged his faithful followers to go as far as China to seek knowledge where necessary. The pupils are also happy that their views will be sought in decision making at home and in the school unlike what obtains in the past.

11 BAPTIST SCHOOL ERIN ILE

Baptist school is located along the Ilemona Erin Ile road. It is headed by Mr. D. O. Idowu with 20 other teachers. It is has 132 pupils 66 boys & 66 girls. The HM is said to be a unionist who travels round the country to attend Nigerian Union of Teachers meetings. The school is denied the modern structures that are provided in other schools in Erin Ile. Availability and state of infrastructures The school has 9 classrooms. This is more than what is required for the number of pupils. Some of the excess classrooms are being loaned out as home economics centre. Interaction with the teachers and the pupils The performance of the pupils is not better than that of other schools. The pupils are too few for the available classrooms and 20 teachers. The teachers claim the community dont show any interest in the school that parents never bother to visit the school or provide needed materials for their children. Some parents were said to have withdrew their children to private schools. The only negligible support the school has is from the Baptist Church. Advocacy visit to the Baptist Pastor and some other people around the school shows that they are not concerned about the welfare of the school. They however promise to be awakened to their responsibilities henceforth. One of the community members and leader - Mr Oguntoye opined that the team need to do more mobilisation in the community to enable them know their right and responsibilities. He said he is sure people will not show apathy if they know they can demand for accountability from the duty bearers on issues that does not affect them directly. Gender equity and inclusiveness

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Boys and girls have equal right and mothers are said to be the ones who participate more at PTA meetings.

IGOSUN COMMUNITY
Igosun is located between Offa and Ipee towns. It is a mixed community of farmers, artisans and traders. The community has a large number of places of worship, both churches and mosques. Also, the community has many private and public primary and secondary schools. The traditional council is headed by the King Onigosun of Igosun oba.............. A Chief Imam heads the other Islamic religious groups while the Christians have many denominational leaders. Advocacy visit to the traditional and religious leaders produced the same comments of government lapses, teachers poor attitude to work and inefficiency, and parents and pupils lack of seriousness and interest in education. They all promised to join hands with the government to monitor the schools in their community and are happy to be invited to be part of the SBMC. The religious leaders promised to include the issue of participatory monitoring of schools in their sermons.

12 IGOSUN BAPTIST SCHOOL

The school founded in 1935 by the Baptist mission is headed by Mr.I. A. Olaniyi and served by 21 other teachers. The number of pupils in the school is 80 - 38 boys and 42girls Available infrastructural facilities The school has 9 classrooms of which 2 are dilapidated and not being used. The location of the school in the centre of the town calls for fencing to stop the activities of miscreants who use the classrooms for their nefarious activities Literacy and numeracy abilities of the pupils The performance of the pupils across classes was very unsatisfactory. Some primary 2 pupils cannot count 1 100 or write the ABC Z. The pupils claim their parents dont check their school notes and/or care to know who the teachers are. Interaction with the community 29

Only the Baptist community is supporting the school. Others do not consider it their business to contribute towards the academic or infrastructural development of the school. They have observed that the teachers are not performing their duties well but they feel they cannot monitor teachers that are not being paid by them. They believe Government agents will not react favourably to their voice. They were happy to know that they could correct the misdemeanour of the teachers and demand for quality education from government. All accept their blame and promised to turn a new leaf of assisting their children with homework and providing them necessary school requirements. Interaction with the teachers The HM and other teachers claim they perform their duties to the best of their ability within the limits of available resources. According to them, there are not enough textbooks for the students and teaching aids are inadequate. They also complained about the unserious attitude of parents who fail to follow up on their children or provide them with ordinary writing materials. The government they say should make good its promises of remunerating the teachers better so as to attract male teachers.

Gender equity and inclusiveness There is no gender disparity in Igosun town. The women appear to be more vocal and more alive to their responsibilities on the issue of education. They show up in the school to check on the performance of their children. The men are too busy pursuing their livelihood to pay attention towards that direction.

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MUSLIM PRIMARY SCHOOL IGOSUN

Igosun Muslim Primary school was established in the Muslim community of Igosun. It was later taken over by the Government of Kwara State. The school is headed by Mrs. Oyeniyi who has 22 other teachers working with him. The number of pupils in the school is 145 - 74 boys and 71 girls. Available and state of infrastructure The school has 6 block building of 9 classrooms and 1 uncompleted block. Numeracy and literacy ability of the pupils A few of the pupils here can barely manage to read some memorised portion of some passages. They may not recognise or pronounce same words in other texts. According to the pupils no one follows up on what they learnt in the school, they engage in playing football, watching films or hawking after school hours. Very few have enough exercise books to cover the schools subjects. None has text book purchased by parents. They are waiting for the government books in the third term. The teachers claim some of the parents can actually afford to 30

buy the text books but are either not enlightened enough or dont value education. The teachers also pleaded for more teaching aids to be supplied to the school. Interaction with the community Only the Muslim community has ever shown interest in the school. Others feel unconcerned. They do not consider the danger of not ensuring quality education for every child in the community. They blame the government for being responsible for the sorry state of education but fail to see that they have also failed to play their part. After the teams presentation of every child counts and benefits of participatory monitoring of schools, they admitted their guilt and are happy to be invited to select credible representatives for the schools SBMC. However they were sceptical about the commitment of government in pursuing the objectives of the exercise.

Gender equity and inclusiveness Boys and girls are treated the same way at home and in school and the women made very useful contributions to the discussions. The women appear more concerned about the school and their children than the men.

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St. Mathias primary school Erin IIe

St. Mathias School was established in the year 1921 by the Anglican mission and later taken over by Kwara state government. The school is being headed by Mr. M. S. Ojo and 27 other teachers. The population of the school pupils is 198, 101 boys and 97girls respectively. Availability and state of infrastructure The school has 3 block building of 9 classrooms, a modern toilet and a home economics building. The school is located along the federal highway. Fencing of the school premises is needed for security of lives and property. Some of the classrooms do not have windows and one wonders what happens when rain falls. Literacy and numeracy ability of the pupils The pupils ability to read and write is very poor. Interview sessions with pupils and teachers revealed lack of personal textbook for pupils to use at home contribute to the poor performance. The teachers claim to be performing their duty well. However was debunked by the parents, as they said the teachers abandon their duties and instead use the pupils as labourers, probably for farm duties. According to one of the mothers, the teachers bring melon and vegetables to school for pupils to pick when they are supposed to be engaged in academic exercise. 31

Community interest in the school Erin Ile community feels the management of the school is the responsibility of government and the church. Asked whether he has ever involved or seek the assistance of any member of the community in carrying out any project in the school, the head teacher responded that he only involve the PTA and the church. Further discussion revealed that when he talks of the PTA, he means the PTA executive. Interaction with the community The community welcomes the idea of participatory monitoring of schools but they seem to be more interested in monitoring the construction works than the academics. They were not responsive to suggestion for inclusion of the schools food seller who could easily assist daily monitoring as member of the committee. In response to an issue raised by an ex-pupil, we made it categorically clear all over again that the overall goal of the SBMC formation is to improve the quality of education. Mrs Rashidat Dauda said the idea of storytelling to children is no longer relevant at this age and time because of television programmes and home video.

Gender equity and inclusiveness All are treated equally in this school and town. The girls are said to be smarter than the boys, and, the mothers follow up the children in the school more than the fathers. You hardly see men at PTA meetings except the executives said Mrs. Saheed A. M. The school does not admit mentally imbalanced children. We were told that the imbecile that comes to the school only come at break time and the food seller has taken it upon herself to feed her. We encouraged the community to select the food seller as a member of the SBMC that someone who comes to the school daily can help them to monitor the schools activities. 15

EMMANUEL PRIMARY SCHOOL ERIN ILE

Emmanuel Primary School Erin Ile was carved out of St. Mathias School during the State Governments school expansion programme. The school, headed by Mr. S. O. Ojo has 14 other teachers. The pupils population is put at 176 - 74 boys and 102 girls Availability and state of infrastructure There are 2 block building of 8 classrooms and one toilet. Literacy and numeracy ability of the pupils

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The pupils performance in this school is also very poor. Regrettably the parents dont seem to know the importance of primary education being the bedrock of future attainments. They are not ready to sacrifice their time and money for the sake of their children. Interaction with the teachers and pupils revealed that most pupils dont have enough exercise books to cover the schools subjects. Interaction with the community The community of Emmanuel Anglican church is the only source of support to the school. Observations show that they pay regular visits to the school to improve the infrastructures. They are not aware that they have the right to challenge the teachers to be more conscientious in their duties. We made them realise that all the complaints of government lapses in the education structure could only be improved if they voice out their observations and demand for the delivery of quality education. Mr. B. O. Farinde wonders what will be the result of monitoring a teacher that is not paid by them. They were told that the SBMC is mandated to monitor all activities in the school. Mrs. Ruth Ogunniran would want the mothers to inculcate moral discipline into the children more so that they could respect the teachers. Gender equity and inclusiveness The community and the school treat all children equally. The school according to the teachers enjoys the interest and support of mothers more than the fathers.

IPEE COMMUNITY
Ipee is an urban community that has the presence of social amenities like electricity, pipe borne water, public and private health facilities. It has 5 public and 2 private schools. Advocacy visit was paid to the community leaders to lobby and solicit their support for the every child counts initiative of the Kwara State Government. The leaders visited were the traditional ruler, the Imam and the Christian religious leaders. The Alasalatu women group said to be of traditional and community development potentials were also not left out. They are all happy about the agenda of participatory approach to the management of schools. As part of the discussion, Mrs. Mojibat Jimoh expressed the fear of politicians hijacking the programme and turning it into their usual jamboree without any appreciable result. We made her realise that it is only the voice of the community that can stop that. The king Oba Muftau Adebayo Lawal opined that the programme was supposed to have come up earlier but nevertheless promised to select credible people to represent him in the two schools in his community. The chief Imam, Alhaji Abubakar Lawal said there is nothing powerful than an idea whose time has come. That God has chosen this time to answer his prayers about falling standard of education. 33

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BAPTIST PRIMARY SCHOOL IPEE

The school was established by the Baptist mission before it was taken over by the government. It is headed by Mr S. O. Ogunlade and has 25 other teachers. The pupils population in the school is 102 with 102 boys and 99 girls respectively. Availability and state of infrastructure The school has only 11 classrooms with benches and sufficient desks to go round the pupils. There is no water or toilet facility. The school needs more classrooms, fence, teaching aids and the renovation of the existing ones. Literacy and numerable ability of the pupils The performance of pupils here is not different from that of other schools. The claim of diligent service by the teachers does not reflect in the academic knowledge of the pupils. The head teacher claims that his teachers write lesson notes and he monitors what the teachers teach the pupils in the classroom but there is no evidence to back up his claim. Teachers claim that parents are invited to school to discuss the weaknesses of their children but most parents dont bother to come. Interaction with the pupils corroborated what the teacher said about the parents lack of interest in the school. Out of the women interviewed, only Mrs. Elizabeth Wuraola visits the school to show interest in her children education. A grandmother, mrs. Sabitiyu said mothers will choose to buy ceremony uniform for and attend social functions rather than buy books or visit their childrens schools. Community interest in the school The Baptist church supports the school to maintain the infrastructures. Apart from them no other person in the community has ever shown any interest in the school. The HM has never sought assistance from any old students and the school has produced many notable people who could assist the school. The HM said he tries to interest the community in the school by inviting them to the schools sports and social activities like end of year social programme.

Gender equity and inclusiveness Gender discrimination has no place in Ipee community and the school. The teachers affirm that girls perform better when assigned leadership roles. The only issue is the problem of teenage pregnancy which disrupts girls education.

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17 MUSLIM PRYMARY SCHOOL IPEE

The school was founded by the Muslim community and later taken over by Government. The head teacher Mr. R. A. Suleiman has 28 other teachers working with him. The population of the pupils in the school is 153. Boys and girls population are 69 and 84 respectively. Available and state of infrastructure The school has2 block building of 8 classrooms. Each of the classrooms hosts at least 2 classes. Numeracy and literacy ability of the pupils The performance of the peoples in this school is nothing to write home about. Most of the pupils have illiterate parents who cannot assist them with home work. According to the teachers, only few mothers visit the school and apart from paying the PTA levy of two hundred and fifty (N250.00), they never care about leaking roof or provision of teaching aids. The men dont show interest at all in the schools activities. Interaction with the community The Muslim community and some parents who were interviewed blame the government and the incompetent teachers for the plight of the pupils. When asked about what they have done to redress the situation, they displayed ignorance about the fact that they could ask for accountability from the teachers and government. The Alasalatu women group is however a force to reckon with in the management of the school. According to the headmaster, these women have so much shown interest in the affairs of the school to the extent that no issue can be concluded without involving them. The group leader Mrs Fatimoh Jimor opined that the learning outcome benchmark is a sign of good intension of government. They are ready to volunteer their service for the progress of the school. The community has confidence in the education reform agenda and wished it had come earlier. Gender equity and inclusiveness Girl child discrimination has no place in this community. The teachers trust girls better with leadership position.

18 COMMUNITY PRIMARY SCHOOL AJOKO BUDO ARIN

Ajoko Budo Arin is a rural community located along igosun - Ipee road. It is an agrarian community of crop farmers and Fulani pastoralists. It is a 35

predominantly muslim community. The community is headed by a Mogaji, Alhaji Saka Sanni. The religious leader in the community is Immam Yusuf. Both the Mogaji And the Immam support western educated but do not force people to go to school. Those who opt for trade learning are allowed to do so. They organise quoranic lessons in the evening after school to encourage children to go to school in the morning hours. They are concerned that teenage pregnancy is very rampant in the community. They both advocated for the provision of hospital where pregnant mothers can deliver safely. The Mogaji would also want a microcredit bank in the community to improve the socio economic status of his subjects. Abduraimi Murtala, a university graduate who came around to visit his parents opined that illiterate parents can not be expected to monitor teachers and help pupils with home work. The literates youths dont stay in the community because there is job for them in Ajoko The Ajoko community school The school of 94 pupils is headed by Mrs O. Olaegun and 11 other teachers. 51 of the pupils are boys while 43 are girls. Available infrastructure. The school is in a sorry state. There are 1 block building of 2 classrooms without benches and desks. Pupils sit on the floor for their lessons. Literacy and numeracy ability of the pupils To say that the performance of the pupils here is poor is an understatement. Pupils in different classes could not be differentiated, when asked to read some texts; they were all mute as if they have never been to school. Interaction with the teachers The teachers complain of lack of potable water and electricity in the community and so can not live in Ajoko. They commute to the community daily and so often come late and close early. They also complained that the Fulani parents give their daughter out in marriage after primary six. The fulanis claim they do this because there is no secondary school in the community. The head teacher remarked that parents, especially the Fulanis do not want to commit their money to educational development of their children. She said she often provide writing materials for the pupils. Interaction with the community women The women did not voice their opinion in the presence of the men. When drawn aside, they were full of complaints against the teachers whom they say do not come to the school regularly. As confirmed by some pupils, parents tell stories to their children but do not help them with their home work. 36

Mrs. Ajara Musa will want basic health clinic for the community to stop maternal mortality. Mrs. Wolimat Raimi pointed out electricity poles that had been erected since 1999 without provision of transformer to generate electricity. Gender equity and inclusiveness Women in this community will need special mobilisation to give them a voice. They would want their girls to be properly educated but they are helpless. They are never consulted before girls are given out in marriage. Underage marriages are very rampant especially among the Fulanis.

19 COMMUNITY SCHOOL BUDO ALFA

Budo Alfa is a rural community that lacks basic amenities like electricity, pipe borne water, or clinic. Communication service in the community is also epileptic. It is an agrarian community of Christians and Muslims. The only school in the community is the community primary school. The community leader was not around for the advocacy visit, but we met his representative Mr. Jimoh Mohammed who was very enthusiastic about the every child counts programme. He expressed concern about primary six pupils not being able to read or write and expressed confidence in the facilitators of the programme because it has the hand of the white men.

The community school The community school is headed by Mr. J. O. Adeogun who works with 11 other teachers. The pupil population is 26 boys and 26 girls. Available and state of infrastructures The school has 6 dilapidated classrooms with few benches. Many of the pupils sit on the floor for lessons.

Literacy and numeracy ability of the pupils Primary 3 pupils could not count 1 2 3 to to 20. No pupil present in the school could read primary 3 text book fluently. The learning environment does not augur well for teaching. Although the teachers claim to put in their best to ensure quality education, there is no evidence to show for this. Interaction with the teachers and the community

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Parents and the teachers traded blame for the current situation of poor performance of pupils. Some members of the community also blamed government for not providing books and competent teachers. The head teacher commented that the community does not value education. They neither appreciate teachers nor provide school requirements for their children. They do not bother to visit the school to check on the progress of their children. He said he often go round the community to stress the importance education. The people are not aware of the roles they are to play in monitoring the teachers and providing basic amenities in the school. They thought the free education programme of the government should cater for everything. Mrs. Ramota Musa complained that the women in the community are not included in PTA. She is ready to volunteer her service to serve on the SBMC. They promised to be alive to their responsibility now that they know better. Gender equity and inclusiveness There is gender disparity in this community. Women are not encouraged to voice their opinion or participate in decision taken on issues that affect their children. There is need for mobilisation to promote girl child education and advocacy to our duty bearers to establish a secondary school and health centre in the community.

20 COMMUNITY SCHOOL ALAYA AYEKALE

The school serves 3 communities of Alaya- Ayekale, kotu and Gaa Kootu. The communities are agrarian comprising of crop farmers and Fulani pastoralists. The women indigenes engage in farming, locust bean processing while the Fulani women engage in milking of cow and local cheese processing. The School infrastructure The school has only 2 functional classrooms and one uncompleted classroom. Population Pupils population of 125 out of which 55 are boys and 70 are girls. Staff strength 6 teachers out of which 4 are females and 2 are males

Pupils academic performance The performance of the pupils is below standard. The teachers claim of diligent duties does not reflect in the performance of the pupils. None of the teachers in the school are graduates of English, mathematics and sciences, teachers being having discipline such as religious and/or social studies. This affects the teachers output and ultimately the performance of the pupils. 38

Interaction with the communities Observations revealed that both the indigenes and the Fulanis value education. However they seem to be lacking in knowledge of their roles and responsibilities as parents and community leaders to attain quality education in the school. An exception worthy of mentioning is that of the Magaji of Gaa Kootu Alhaji Okanlawon who claims to be training 3 of his biological children in tertiary institutions and also training 6 other children from his community. Community interest in the school. The community consider the provision of infrastructures and monitoring of the teachers as that of the government. After they were enlightened, they all pledge to volunteer their services to ensure the delivery of quality education to their children. This suggests that had they known their roles and responsibilities, they would have shown more interest in the community school.

Gender equity and inclusiveness The pupils claim that all their siblings have passed through schooling at one time or another. There is no evidence of gender discrimination. The mothers more than the fathers, according to the teachers show more interest in their childrens school work by occasionally visiting the schools and attending and making contributions at the PTA meetings.

21 EBENEZER AFRICAN CHURCH SCHOOL ERINILE

Ebenezer African church School Erin-Ile is located along Adamu Atta road, ErinIle. The school with pupils population of 62 boys and 65 girls (127) is headed by Mrs O. Oladejo who works with 21 other teachers. Infrastructures in the School The school has 10 classrooms with benches and desks and an uncompleted bore hole provided under the MDG project. Ebenezer is an old school founded in 1930s and so the structures are old and dilapidated and constitute danger to the staff and pupils. A complete block of classrooms is abandoned for fear that it may collapse and harm staff and children. Literacy and numeracy ability of the pupils Most of the pupils in primary 5 and 6 can neither read nor undertake/solve simple arithmetic. The SMO in the team, Mrs Grace Ojo who is an ex pupil of the school recalled the past glories of the school when they used to perform better than most schools in the region.

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The teachers claim of diligently performing their duties does not reflect in the performance of the pupils. We could see some evidence that government supply of text books to the school is a shade better than other schools in Oyun LGA Community interest in the school The church community, which is supposed to be the proprietor of the school, does not show much interest in the school. Other community members also feel unconcerned. The only interest group the school has is the PTA. The parents themselves rarely visit the school and some dont even provide for their children school requirements. Mrs. Kareem Amuda says they are illiterates and so cannot help pupils with home work Gender equity and inclusiveness The students confirm that all their siblings are in school. Our observation is that the girls perform better than the boys in academic and other school activities, inclusive of leadership responsibilities.

22

COMMUNITY SCHOOL FUFU-WARRI

Community School Fufu-Warri serves 5 communities of Fufu-Warri, Ayekale, Bolude, OLogoro and Okelala all in Oyun LGA. The people are predominantly farmers and stark illiterates. The communities are very rural with mud houses and some with thatch roof. Many children have never been sent to school at all and some were withdrawn to join their parents on the farm or as pastoralists. The community school headed by Mr. S. A. Adeoye has 10 other teachers, male and female being 3 and 9 respectively. The school has a pupils population of 125 50 girls and 52 boys Infrastructures in the School Two Blocks of six class rooms with few benches and desks. Pupils in primary 1 and 2 have to sit on the floor for lessons. Literacy and numerable ability of the pupils To say the performance is poor is an understatement. Some primary 4 pupils cannot write their names correctly. This has led to the withdrawal of some pupils from the school by parents who consider it a waste of time when the children could be better engaged on the farm. There are no sign of government text books in the school. The effort of the PTA in purchasing text books for teachers is commendable.

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Interaction with the communities. The team paid advocacy visits to the community leaders and the religious leaders in the various communities. All were lobbied to consider the importance of education and mobilise their subjects to embrace the attitude of sending their children to school. The people were charged to monitor the teachers and report them to the appropriate authorities if they are found negligent. They promise to return the children to school if the government can give them trained teachers who are good in mathematics and English. The teachers accuse the parents of not attending PTA meetings or providing for the pupils educational needs. The Fulani parents were said to have withdrawn their children from the school because they refused to pay the PTA levy of N250.00. The Fulanis were wondering why they should be made to pay when government promised them free education.

Gender equity and inclusiveness The Fulanis need to be mobilised to send their children especially the girls to school.

23 NOMADIC SCHOOL ERIN-ILE

Nomadic School Erin-Ile is located off Offa road at the back of Iyaloja Motel. It was established to serve the Nomadic children around Erin-Ile town but most of the pupils come from Gaa- Iyaloja. Advocacy visits to the other settlements revealed that they consider the school as being too far from them and would rather have the girls hawk cheese to far distances and the boys help with farm work than according to them engage in what they consider as wasteful venture like attending school. The school The school is headed by Mrs. T. O. Lawal who works with other 1 male and 7 female teachers. Infrastructures in the School Two class rooms with very few desks and benches. There are no teachers tables and chairs. The teachers sit on empty paint tins provided by the community and use students desks to write. Population Pupils 29 1 1boys and 18 girls Performance of the pupils 41

Only a few of the pupils could manage to read 2 letter words. This is not encouraging especially in a community where we have to beg people to allow their children go to school. Interaction with the community Very few people in the community value western education and so community support for the school is low. The people lack the knowledge and understanding that they need to commit their resources and time to ensure quality education in the school. They value moral and quoranic education more than western education. Parents tell their children stories to improve their morals but do not care to follow up on their studies. Gender equity and inclusiveness The few girls who pass through school at all do not go beyond primary school. They are given out in early marriage with or without the consent of the mothers. Girls are made to hawk cheese round the town and boys pasteur cows when they are suppose to be in school.

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COMMUNITY SCHOOL ADELEKE

The school serves the communities of Adeleke and Aperun and some pastoralist settlements located around the communities. They are rural communities located off Igosun, Ijagbo Ipee road. The people are predominantly farmers and Muslims. Social amenities in the community includes borehole for the supply of water and electricity. Majority of the women trade in farm produce which they take to Owode market on market days. The school, headed by Mrs Lanbe N. O. has a population of 75 pupils and 15 teachers. 36 of the pupils are boys while 39 are girls. Infrastructures in the School Two block building of 6 classrooms with very few desks and benches. There are no teachers tables and chairs, toilet and water facility.

Literacy and numerable abilities of the pupils Most of the pupils in primary 6 cant read 2 letter words. The text books being used by the teachers were bought by the communities. The school is in the third term and Government textbooks are yet to be supplied. Pupils who may wish to read at home do not have text books. Interaction with the communities 42

The community see the school as government property. Asked how they would react if they observe any damage to the school property, Mallam Abdu the Imam of Adeleke said they normally will ask the headmaster to report the damage at the LGEA office for necessary action. They never see it as their responsibility. They do not consider it necessary to monitor the activities of the teachers as they are not being paid by them. After mobilisation and sensitisation to demand for the delivery of quality education from the teachers, they all said they will volunteer their services for the SBMC. Gender equity and inclusiveness Gender discrimination has no place in Adeleke community and school. The women according to the teachers participate more in attending and making contributions at PTA meetings. Regrettably the Fulani community decided to withdraw their children from the school because of PTA levy.

25 OJA

COMMUNITY SCHOOL AJOKO

Community School Ajoko-Oja established on 3rd September 1976 is located in the boundary of Kwara and Osun States. It serves nine communities of Ajoko-Oja, Gaa-Gbodu, Bolorunduro, Ese-Oke, Gaa Ese-Oke, Gaa Usuman and Igbologun. The people are predominantly farmers. Most of the houses in the communities are mud and thatch roofed. Advocacy was paid to the different community leaders to stress the importance of education and lobby them to sermonise to their subjects to send their daughters to school. They were also sensitised on the need to participate in managing the community school and not leave everything to government. The school headed by Mr bukoye J. S. has pupils population of 114 66 boys and 45 girls. There are 6 other teachers in the school. Infrastructures in the School Two class rooms are used for all the 6 classes. Corrugated roofing sheets are used to divide the classes. The benches and desks are inadequate. Many of the pupils sit on the floor for lessons. Interaction with the community Many people in the community feel unconcerned about the development of the school. They believe government should cater for everything. They care more about the religious and moral development of their children than education.

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A volunteer kindergarten teacher who asked for a token of N2, 000 a month from the community stopped after a few months because the community was not ready to pay her. The around 36 kindergarten pupils now stay at home. Many from some Fulani settlements dont bother to send their children to school. The team went round the various communities mobilising them to embrace education. Gender equity and inclusiveness Women and children in some of the settlements appear not to have a voice in decision taken both at home and in the school. Early girl child marriage is still common among the Fulanis.

26 MUSLIM COMMUNITY SCHOOL MUSLIM B ERIN ILE

The school is located on Atta road Erin Ile. It was founded by the Muslim community of Erin Ile in the late thirties and later taken over by government. The school headed by Mrs Abioye has 24 other teachers. The pupil population in the school is 176 made up of boys 92 and 84 girls. Infrastructures in the School Six class rooms with enough benches and desks for the pupils. The school also has a newly constructed VIP toilet that is yet to be commissioned. Literacy and numeracy ability of the pupils The pupils in primary 1 6 lack text books and so one cannot expect much from them. The teachers however claim to do their work diligently and use teaching aids to ensure quality delivery of lessons. This does not reflect in the aptitude many primary 6 pupils who cannot read 4 letter words. Interaction with the community The community who had in the past provided teachers text books now appear non challatant about the academic performance of the pupils. The women in the community appear to be very vocal and more interested in development of their children than the men. Gender equity and inclusiveness All the pupils interacted with said that all their female siblings are in school irrespective of gender. The school does not however admit children with mental disability.

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27 MUSLIM COMMUNITY SCHOOL A ERIN ILE

Muslim Community School A shares the same compound with Muslim School B on Ata road, Erin Ile. It is headed by Mrs Musili Salaudeen and has 16 other teachers. The population of the pupils in the school is 149 77 boys and 72 girls. Infrastructures in the school There are 5 block building of 6 classrooms with enough desks and benches for the pupils. Literacy and numeracy ability of the pupils The performance of the pupils is very poor. The teachers claim to be diligent in their duties but the reality on ground exemplified by the performance of the pupils shows the contrary. According to the teachers the school has not received any text book from government in the last one year. Interactive session with parents and pupils Most pupils dont have text books for home revision and parents appear not to feel concerned. Most parents are illiterates who are helpless but Mrs. Fatima Mohammed said that she normally ask her older children to help the one in primary school. Only few mothers bother to visit the school. Most parents especially fathers dont turn up for PTA meetings. The community on the other hand dont consider it their responsibility to take up the challenge of carrying out repairs of the school infrastructures. They believe the government should do everything and monitor the teachers. Gender equity and inclusiveness Gender discrimination has no place in the school and community. The women and the girls are as active and visible as the men and boys.

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COMMUNITY SCHOOL REKE

Reke is a rural agrarian community located in a remote location off Ila Odo, Osun State road. The school was established to serve Reke and the Fulani pastoralists settlements scartered around the community. Information gathered from the Mogaji Alhaji Ajisafe Subanu and the women revealed that the school is just a structure where lessons dont hold. Advocacy visit to the community leaders revealed that many school age children in the communities dont go to school at all. The Mogaji and the imam were lobbied to sermonise to their subjects on the benefits of education. The school headed by Mr. Olude Kehinde Adewoyi has 8 other teachers. 45

The pupils population is 45 with boys and girls being 21 and 25 respectively. Infrastructures in the school The school has only 1 block building of 2 classrooms. Literacy and numeracy ability of the pupils No pupil could read or write. Although the teachers claim they do their work well, this claim was debunked by the community people who said the teachers rarely show up at work. The teachers are alleged to spend less than 2 hours at work if they come at all. A woman, Mrs. Sikiratu Oseni said the teachers are kata and lanlatu meaning they are very useless and irresponsible. The community promise to send their children back to school if the government could change the teachers or make them come to school regularly and teach the children. They however praise the effort of the head teacher who goes round the settlements to mobilise parents to send their children to school. But it is obvious he cannot handle all the classes alone so the community was adamant that they will not patronise the school except there is improvement and changes made by government. Uniqueness of Reke The people of reke are unique in the sense that they are already demanding for accountability from the teachers. The only problem they have is that they dont know the appropriate channel of complaints to get result. The team took up their case and reported the issue at the LGA office. The news of this singular act had gotten back to the community before the forum meeting. The turnout at the forum meeting was massive and the election of the SBMC members was conducted with all seriousness. They said they believe the involvement of civil society will break their circle of poverty. Gender equity and inclusiveness The community claim never to have discriminated against any child male or female. They realise both are useful and can bring them out of poverty if educated. This claim was corroborated by the pupils who confirmed that all their siblings are in school.

29 COMMUNITY SCHOOL IWOYE

The Community School is located in Iwoye, surrounded by Fulani settlements. Those living in the communities are predominantly farmers and are illiterates. The school has 52 pupils made up of 21 boys and 31 girls. However, only 4 pupils were seen during the scoping exercise and the forum meeting. The school has 4 teachers with Mrs. S. A. Adeoye as headmaster. 46

Availability and State of Infrastructure There is no infrastructure whatsoever in the place called School. The only thing existing are 2 classrooms which has practically collapsed and unfit for habitation, hence classes cant hold in school and has to take place in the Gaa, if and when it does. The most basic things are not available; in fact there isnt a single text book for primary 1 to 6. Literacy and Numeracy ability of Pupils The school was in the third week of resumption but only four pupils present are extremely poor ref both numeracy and literacy. Advocacy

Advocacy visit were paid differently to the communities and religious leaders on essence of SBMC even though the pupils are few. We implore the Imam to advocate for children education during prayers and help raise support for those whose parents cant afford to pay for PTA levy which we garthered prevented some people from sending their children to school. The community leaders pledge his support for establishment, and formation of SBMC and support for every child counts.

Interaction with Community The community including its leader Alfa Musa Atiku are not aware of anything called SBMC. They know about PTA and say that they do attend PTA meetings. Those at the meeting complained about the deplorable condition of the school building, with some describing it rightly as a death trap, and gave this as the reason for not sending their children to school. One of those that spoke at the meeting complained about parents inability to pay the education levy. They lack awareness of the possibility of monitoring the teaching process in their schools but say they are willing if empowered to do it. Some however believe that since they dont have financial control over the teachers that it is impossible to monitor, influence and/or place demands on them to improve the overall performance of the school. Gender Equity and Inclusiveness The women more than men claim to occasionally visit the school. There seems to be no gender discrimination in the school or community activities. The girls are said to play important roles in school activities, though the assigned tasks such as sweeping and cleaning are domestic. They all expressed willingness to volunteer their services towards the improvement of the school.

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COMMUNITY SCHOOL BUDO GBADA

Budo gbada is a rural community located off Ilemona Ira road. It is an agrarian community surrounded by Pastoralist settlements. The indigenous women 47

engage in farming and crop processing for sale. The Fulani women on the other hand engage in cow milking and processing of same to cheese as their commercial venture. The community school serves Budo - gbada and the other Fulani settlements around. The school headed by Mr. Faniyi S. O. Has 5 other teachers. The student population is 64. Boys and girls being 33 and 31 respectively.

The schools infrastructure The school has 5 classrooms. It has no toilet or facility for potable water.

Literacy and numeracy ability of the pupils The performance is very poor. As usual, parents and teachers traded blame for the unsatisfactory performance of the pupils. The teachers claim they do their work well within the limits of available resources. They blame parents for not caring to commit their time and resources to educate their children.

Interaction with the community Mr. B. Salami and other people in the community including the traditional ruler all blame Government for the sorry state of primary education. They wonder how government officials who were taught by competent and diligent teachers could be employing poorly trained teachers. They would want the team to advocate for a general overhaul of the weak teaching workforce. They were sensitised to pass their demands through appropriate channels to the authority. They all pledge their support for the mission and offer to volunteer for the SBMC.

Gender equity and inclusiveness

There is no problem of gender discrimination among the people. Boys and girls are given equal opportunity on education. Some Fulani teenagers seen hawking cheese told us they passed through primary school but did not further to secondary school because according to them it is far.

31 COMMUNITY SCHOOL AYENI

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The community school serves 2 communities of Ayeni and Aperun. The two communities are very rural with no modern structure. The people are predominantly farmers. The school is headed by Mr. G. K. Olatunji has 10 other teachers working with him. The schools population is 36 girls and 27 boys totalling 63 pupils.

Infrastructures in the School Only 1 blocks building of 6 classrooms with few desks and benches. Pupils in primary 1 and 2 sit on the floor to receive their lessons.

Numeracy and literacy ability of the pupils The pupils dont appear to be learning anything in this school. There are no text books for the pupils and some dont even have exercise books. The community even though the people are not generally literate, they are however aware that the pupils are not gaining much from the school but they seem helpless. They blame government for recruiting incompetent teachers and not providing text books. The teachers on the other hand claim they do their best within the limits of available resources but this claim does not reflect in the ability of the pupils.

Interactive session with the community The advocacy visits to the community leaders, and the mobilisation of the people that they should join hands in monitoring the teachers and improving the infrastructures in the school yielded positive results. They all appreciate the team and promised to volunteer their service for the SBMC. The two Mogajis promised to team up and select a credible representative for the SBMC

Gender equity and inclusiveness The women appear passive. They need to be sensitised to give them a voice.

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32.

IWOYE COMMUNITY SCHOOL

A school was supposed to be in Iwoye community. We visited the supposed community which is literarily no more in existence. We also saw a disused building which on enquiry, we were told used to be the school. The community was said to have been part of the battle ground during the infamous and unfortunate Offa/Erin-Ile war, as a result of which the community is no more in existence.

Given the above, it was not possible to conduct an advocacy and /or forum meeting. The best that was achieved was dialogue that gave us the historical information of a community and school that once was but now no more.

The above as it may, if the community and school were to be resuscitated, the infrastructure that is the school building on ground is adequate and will require much rehabilitation. It can be projected that other required resources such as good teachers and essential facilities such as books would have been lacking; and that the numeracy & literacy competency of the pupils would be as dismal as is in most of the other schools that were surveyed. It can also be projected that the advocacy would have produced similar impetus regards willingness of parents and the community at large to be involved in advancing the lots of their children through being proactive in the monitoring and management.

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