Lagos State governor, Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, has directed the Special Committee on Rehabilitation of Public Schools, SCRPS, to move into the densely populated Tolu School Complex in Ajegunle and ensure the entire complex is redeveloped and adorned with modern buildings.
That, he said, was to improve teaching and learning in the affected schools.
The Chairman, Special Committee on Rehabilitation of Public Schools, Mr Hakeem Smith, made this known during a press briefing in Ikeja.
He said the governor had since declared zero tolerance on infrastructural decay in all public schools in Lagos and as such directed SCRPS to intervene by revamping the situation at Tolu School Complex.
He revealed that the entire school complex covered an expanse of approximately 11.73 hectares of land which houses 36 schools and all were in deplorable state.
Majority of the buildings are with blown off roofs, cracked walls, broken window panes, abandoned toilets which encouraged open defecation by the students.
Smith recounted that Tolu School Complex was established in 1981 during Alhaji Lateef kayode Jakande administration, adding that mass education policy at that time necessitated the reclamation of the parcel of land from the lagoon, in order to accommodate the teeming population in that area, who must have access to education.
The successive administration under the leadership of Air Commodore Gbolahan Mudashiru who was the governor of Lagos State from 1984-1986, continued from where his predecessor stopped, by upgrading the existing Jakande blocks to standard ones and more schools were added to the ever growing community, said smith.
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The chairman noted that the schools had been in existence for over four decades and the high level of usage without proper maintenance in place had resulted in their different levels of infrastructural decay, which required immediate intervention ranging from outright rehabilitation to the ones to be demolished and re-developed.
He also stated that during the several reconnaissance and assessment visits to the Tolu school complex by SCRPS officials, various problems were identified ranging from high student/classroom ratio which is not conducive for learning, pressing need for additional classroom blocks, existing blocks requiring urgent rehabilitation as the blocks are in various stages of dilapidation, lack of recreational facilities, laboratories, teachers and principals’ offices and toilets, non-clearly defined boundaries within the schools which encourages inter-school scuffles and fights.
The SCRPS boss added that inadequate access roads within the complex, recurrent issue of flooding, security issues in form of school break-ins and theft, non-availability of ICT infrastructure within the complex and lack of perimeter fencing-allowing incessant activities of miscreants within the area are some of the challenges faced at the complex.
He noted that having identified the problems, the execution and management of the project would be a lot easier as the project had been divided into six lots, that is Lots A,B,C,D,E,F so as to get the work done without much encumbrances.
Smith explained that SCRPS had proposed amongst others, the construction of additional 13, 15 and 18 classroom blocks with offices and toilets in some of the schools having shortage of classrooms, renovation of identified dilapidated classroom blocks, construction of perimeter fences and gate houses, construction of new inner roads and drainages, rehabilitation of existing access roads and the construction of health-care center.
He stated that SCRPS would also intervene by constructing a fire service station in the complex to mitigate against any fire outbreak.
Also, a multi-purpose sports complex would be created to encourage pupils in sporting activities.
External electrical works – solar powered floodlight shall also be provided to light up the entire complex.
The chairman noted that, an ICT hub, central laboratory and arts/ creativity blocks under private sponsorship arrangement would also be established while all of these would be maintained by the facility management office.
He hinted that at the end of it all, Tolu school complex would become an ‘Education City’.
He reeled out some of the benefits attached to the redevelopment of the school complex which include: bringing succour to the educational needs of the growing population of that area, catalyst for commerce as more businesses will start springing up and more importantly, it will help build capacity in the area of Science, Technology, Sports and Academics due to the state-of-the-arts structure that will begin to spring up.
