The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has renovated more than 4,000 classrooms in 287 schools across the country under its new Whole School Approach initiative aimed at improving school infrastructure and learning outcomes.
The Executive Secretary of UBEC, Dr Aisha Garba, disclosed this in Abuja while commissioning renovated facilities at the LEA/Junior Secondary School, Nyanya-Hausawa.
Garba explained that the new approach had expanded the commission’s interventions beyond the renovation of individual classrooms to the provision of essential facilities required to create conducive environments for teaching and learning.
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She said UBEC had adopted the Whole School Approach to infrastructure development as part of its minimum standards programme, with interventions now covering classrooms, toilets, water supply, power, administrative facilities and learning resources.
The Executive Secretary noted that the initiative, under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was designed to ensure that schools benefiting from government intervention had the basic facilities required for effective teaching and learning.
“The President mandated us to ensure that all children, regardless of where they are, should be in school and we should make sure that schools are in conducive environment for learning.
“This has been one of our key mandates, and since the coming of this administration, we have taken that directive seriously.
“We have done different reforms within the education sector under the leadership of our two Ministers,” she said.
Garba disclosed that UBEC had also established minimum standards for new school infrastructure, requiring projects to provide essential facilities as part of an integrated development plan.
She listed the facilities to include perimeter fencing, security infrastructure, solar power, boreholes, adequate toilets and classrooms, administrative blocks and playgrounds.
The commission, she added, was incorporating computer and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laboratories as well as smart boards into school infrastructure to prepare Nigerian children for the demands of 21st-century education and the global economy.
According to Garba, the Nyanya-Hausawa school was among the beneficiaries of the intervention after an assessment found the facilities in a dilapidated condition.
The school accommodates Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), primary, junior secondary and senior secondary sections.
The current intervention covers the renovation of three blocks containing about 30 classrooms and 48 toilets, alongside the provision of solar-powered boreholes.
The toilets were connected to the borehole water supply, while Garba disclosed that UBEC would undertake further work at the school, including the provision of an administrative block.
The Director of Physical Planning, UBEC, Ibrahim Nura, said the Nyanya-Hausawa school was among the commission’s intervention projects across the country.
Nura explained that the school had been severely dilapidated before the intervention, with some facilities considered unsuitable for effective teaching and learning.
He noted that UBEC conducted a condition assessment of the school before commencing work to identify its specific infrastructure requirements.
According to him, the intervention had significantly improved the school environment and provided better facilities for pupils, students and teachers.
The Principal of the Junior School, Nyanya-Hausawa, Gideon Isah, commended UBEC for renovating the classroom blocks, providing furniture for staff and students and installing the solar water system.
Isah noted that the rehabilitation had boosted the morale of teachers and students while creating a more conducive learning environment.
He, however, appealed for the construction of an administrative block, noting that the primary, junior secondary and senior secondary sections of the school currently operate without one.
The principal disclosed that the community, in collaboration with the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), had employed three security personnel to safeguard the renovated facilities against vandalism.
Isah gave assurance that the school community would maintain the facilities and ensure their proper use.
A JSS Three student of the school, Oche Godwin, expressed appreciation for the renovation, saying the improved facilities would enable him to concentrate better on his studies.
“With the good tables and chairs, I can now sit comfortably to learn in the classroom unlike before. With the ceiling fan, I don’t need to be worried during the heat season. I thank God, the Nigerian Government, and UBEC for all this,” he said.
