Giginyu Special Primary School has been a pride to many successful people within and outside the community that host the school.
Established in 1959, the primary school commenced operation and took shape of a conventional school with structures in February 1960.
The school has served Giginyu community and other communities surrounding area. Records have shown that the school has produced a lot of successful academicians, bureaucrats, businessmen and women among other notable personalities.
Sadly, the primary school has been relegated to shadow of its former self as the school’s structure become so dilapidated due to negligence. In sum, classes in the school usually turn into a mini pond whenever it rains.
A visit to the school revealed that the cause of the problem may not be unconnected to lack of good drainage system in the area. Water passages in the area are blocked to the extent that the school is negatively affected.
It was also observed that the school’s structures have sunk down as a result of years of lack of maintenance.
A primary three pupil of the school Umma Sani told our reporter that, pupils in the school dreaded rainy season because whenever it rains, it means no school for them.
“When rain falls, we knew without being told that there will be no school for us. We are not happy when we see other pupils from other schools studying while we stay at home doing nothing, simply because our school is a public school and no one cares,” said Umma.
Similarly, Muhammed Ado, a 13-yr-old pupil of the school said, all he wanted was a change of school, saying “I am tired of being turned back home during rainy season while other children in private schools were busy studying.”
Ado lamented that whenever it rains, they had to be sent back home as their classrooms are being submerged by flood, hence could not find a place to study.
However, according to Abdulmumin Musa Hassan of Giginyu Youth Development Association, some of the school old boys have tried their best in putting back some of the dilapidated school’s structures into shape, adding that, this rainy season had been so terrible that the school became more or less a dangerous pond.
“Virtually, the school has been neglected by authorities for years despite several requests made to the authorities on the need for urgent intervention to save the school from total collapse,” Abdulmumin said.
On his part, Comrade Auwalu Yusuf, a leader of Giginyu community vigilante group, said parents and guardians were really going through a tough time as a result of the very bad condition of the school, adding that the primary school was the only public school within the community’s reach.
“Whenever it rains, the whole school compound and the class rooms would become water lodged and nothing can be done in or within the school area. The teachers and the pupils are rendered vulnerable and helpless; we are working with the School Based Management Committee (SBMC), to map out a way out of the situation,” Yusuf said.
