A Government Girls Arabic Secondary School in Kano has experienced an increase in the number of students over time, and as a result of the non-completion of a block of classrooms which was a constituency project awarded by the Kano state government about ten years ago, students are overcrowded in classrooms.
Government Girls Secondary School Tanawa is situated in Kura Local Government Area of Kano.
It has 26 classrooms, 13 blocks and there are approximately 80 students per class, one of which a source in the school told Daily News 24 has become so much for a teacher to handle.
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With the number of students increasing periodically, some of the students have been forced to sit on the floor while the uncompleted block of classroom which is supposed to reduce the burden of overcrowdedness of classes rusts away, and has become an abode for insects, rodents and other creeping animals.
Mallam Zubairu Sa’id, a member of the Parent Teachers Association (PTA) in the school told Daily News 24 that it was during the period when Rep. Muntari Chiromawa was representing Kura/Madobi/Garun Malam Federal constituency of Kano state, that the block of classrooms was awarded.
“After the PTA thanked the Hon Chiromawa at that time, we also pleaded that another block of classrooms be built because the school was still in need of more classes, of which we were promised, additional classes. One block of classroom was built to its entirety and the other which was started to date hasn’t been completed.
“Being concerned about the state of the uncompleted block of classroom, we further went to the relevant authorities in a bid to get the files for awarded contract and after much enquiry, we were told that the papers couldn’t be found, hence this uncompleted building remains in this state.” Mallam Sa’id explained.
In an effort to see that citizens who are mostly affected by the endemic corruption and lack of transparency in the delivery of constituency projects rise to their responsibility of demanding for transparency and inclusion in the process of constituency projects service delivery, that Resource Center for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) educated constituents in Kano central senatorial district on the need to hold their representatives accountable by demanding for inclusiveness and transparency in the process of constituency project delivery in Kano.
Comr. Ibrahim Zikirullahi, the executive director of CHRICED while addressing the constituents said the non-profit has over the years stressed the importance of providing veritable platforms to serve as an interface between the government as duty bearers, and the citizens as right holders. “This is to ensure that the ordinary people in local communities are giver the opportunity to mobilise themselves into active citizens with a strong voice to demand accountability from the government, and their inclusion in the governance process at all levels of government,” he said.
He stated that constituency projects ought to have helped in the rapid development of communities around the country but has “sadly not been so, due to the shrouded secrecy, lack of transparency and citizens exclusion in the process of constituency projects delivery in the country.”
Comr. Zikirullahi called for urgent action by critical stakeholders, particularly the citizens who are mostly affected by the endemic corruption and lack of transparency constituency project delivery chain to rise up to the occasion in demanding transparency, accountability and citizens’ inclusion in the entire constituency project process.
