Ekiti State Government has rebuilt the Boys’ hostel of the State Government Science College, Ayede, which was gutted by fire on 23rd March.
The hostel was said to have caught fire shortly after students had gone for their evening lessons in preparation for the second term examination. The fire which razed down the entire building also destroyed students’ property as well as their House Master’s.
The Governor of the State, Dr Kayode Fayemi , had upon being briefed of the development, directed that a new hostel be built and delivered to the school authorities within two weeks, to enable the student resume their normal life.
Sequel to the Governor’s directive, the construction of the new hostel had commenced immediately with the demolition of the burnt structure.
Speaking on the quick intervention of the State government which saw the new hostel constructed under two weeks, the State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Eniola Ajayi said the government had to mobilise a contractor to the school to ensure that a new building was put in place before students’ resumption.
The Commissioner added that the State Government has also provided the students with two sets of new school uniforms, textbooks covering core subjects, stationeries, 125 double bunks with 250 mattresses and pillows.
According to her, “The Governor gave me a matching order that the school be rebuilt before resumption and that was about 8.30pm just to ensure that work began on the site and he asked that I mobilise contractors to site immediately and thankfully the building has already been roofed and we are not just building what was there before but a larger one than the burnt one.
The building is being plastered now. Aside from just building the place,we realised that the students lost all their property, uniforms, books and so many things, so the State Government also gave us money to purchase two sets of uniform for all students involved to give them all their core textbooks, provide double bunks and everything for them to get them back to school,” she said.
Dr. Ajayi said the State Government through the Ministry of Education and the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has concluded plans to begin the perimeter fencing of the school to prevent encroachment and disturbance by natives who use the school as thoroughfare to their houses near the school as well as build more classrooms for the school.
She added that the Government Science College is one of the schools that the Schools that would receive attention from government under the Operation Renovate All Schools programme of government.
In his remarks, the Principal of the School, Mr. Michael Ajimati commended the immediate intervention of the State Government for giving them both security men for the protection of lives of the students and staff on the day of the incident as well as building a new hostel for the students.
Ajimati added that the fire incident affected the second term examination which was being prepared for at the time of the incident; adding that this also affected the resumption date of the school until now that the state government was putting in place facilities to enable them conduct their examinations.
He however appealed to the state government to do the perimeter fencing of the school to prevent hoodlums from entering the school and build more classrooms for them.
The Chairman of the School’s Parents-Teachers Association, Hon. Olugbenga Oke described government’s effort as “unprecedented” and commended the State Government for providing a new hostel as well as other property which the students lost to the inferno; saying that no parents had brought new uniforms, mattresses or textbooks for their children and wards since government had already done so.
He added that the efforts of the State Government in the education sector was commendable even as the School is one of the schools with best results in SSCE while one of their teachers emerged the best science teacher at the last national science and mathematics STAN competition.
Last modified: May 3, 2012
