Education: Contractor Abandons Project In Cross River

FOR Three years, the roofs of two-storey blocks meant to take twelve classrooms each at the Pin Margaret Secondary School in Calabar South have been abandoned by the contractor.

All he could do with the millions of naira given to him was to erect the structures and place some wood on the roof which have been persistently battered by rain leaving as eyesore. Consequently, over one thousand of the two thousand students of the school study in makeshift structures erected around the collapsing perimetre fence leaving them at the mercy of putrid elements.

That picture reflects what the state of schools in Cross River State are as many of them particularly those in the urban centres have over bloated population with as many as seventy students occupying a classroom meant for thirty pupils.

Seven students share a desk meant for three while in the rural areas, some primary schools are without desks with pupils making do with the bare floor as their seating item.

When our correspondent sought the views of some head teachers and principals in Calabar on the state of primary and secondary education in the state , the reporter was referred to the