Six Teachers Tutor Nearly 800 pupils

Located on a large expanse of land, Rafin Giwa Model Primary School in Kwakware community, Kebbi State, is gradually becoming a prime destination for anxious parents wishing to enrol their children.
This is in light of the UNICEF and the state government’s Cash Transfer Programme (CTP), which is attracting massive enrolment from families in the community. It is equally posing enormous challenges on the school’s infrastructure.
Currently, due to the influx of pupils, classes are sometimes conducted under a tree, an investigation reveals.
There are about three other schools in the community, but Rafin Giwa appears to be a top choice for parents sending their wards to school. It is also where cash is disbursed to such parents by government officials.
PREMIUM TIMES recently visited the community, which is about 30 minutes drive from the state capital. It is situated in Suru LGA.
Excitement
In one of the classrooms, 12-year-old Hassana Aliyu, who is in Primary 6, expressed her delight at being in school, courtesy of the government.
She said the cash transfer programme had changed her entire life.
”I left school two years ago when I was in primary four because there was no one to pay my fees. I started selling food for my mother since then,” she said.
Ms Hassanah said she wants to become a medical doctor and will love to go to a higher institution’.
”I came back to school last year, and I joined my friends in primary six because they are all in primary four,” she said.

Primary one and two people under the tree
Outside the classroom, about 200 pupils received lessons under an acacia tree in the hot afternoon.
The school, with 774 pupils was established in 1976, and is presently not able to accommodate the increasing number of fresh intakes.
Worse, the school has only six teachers. It has three blocks with six classrooms, which cannot cater for the pupils.
Most of the primary one and two pupils, who are between age seven and nine, said in the local language, Hausa, that they were happy to be in school.
“We would have been hawking if we are not in school by now. We also have books, pencils, uniform, socks and sandals too,” Musa Gulma, the labour maayter quoted some of the children as saying.
Mr Gulma said the only challenge of the cash programme is that ”it needs adequate monitoring.”
“Some parents still collect the money, and their wards are not in school, it is worrisome,” he said.
Relief, yet pain
Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, the head teacher of Rafin Giwa school, Kabiru Shehu, said the block of classrooms for Primary one and two collapsed in 2017.
”Since then we have to shuffle the pupils between a class and under the tree,” he said.
According to him, ”we usually merge class one and two and put them in Education Child Development Centre (ECDC) during harmattan and rainy season. They only sit under the tree during the normal weather.
“The only way we can separate them to learn their curriculum is using the shades. Class one alone is more than 150 pupils,” he explained.
He said the school had informed the authorities since the incident happened, ”and they promised to construct a new block of classrooms.”
“We have six teachers, two are female, while the remaining four are male. Once in a while, we get volunteers to assist us,” he said.