Seven years after Nigeria’s fratricidal war, the bucolic
Obohia community in Ahiazu-Mbaise local government area, Imo State, came alive,
rediscovering its soul, literally, with education as the tonic.
What used to be Eastern Nigeria had been devastated by
the 30-month civil war. But the people were not broken. Out of the ruins sprang
up community secondary schools. Secondary Technical School Obohia (SETESCO) was
one of them. It remains a study in communal effort.Established in 1977, the school admitted students from
all the nooks and crannies of old Imo State. The government only gave the
approval, there was no financial support.
But the people were happy that they got government’s
permission to build a school. Had the money come with the approval, they would
have been happier for it.*Ikechukwu Amaechi |
But the fact that it didn’t was not going to be an
obstacle to the realisation of their dream. They gave the project their all –
donated hectares of land, devoted time and were selfless with their financial
resources.
Those who had no money offered their talents;
bricklayers, carpenters, other artisans. There was no compulsion. It was
voluntarism at its best. The women cooked food for their husbands who worked
tirelessly on the project.
The land was Ohia Mbara, a virgin land. The
trees were big and needed to be uprooted. There were neither caterpillars nor
bulldozers. The work was done manually. It was sheer hard labour.
But the people were determined to have a school and no
sacrifice was considered too much. And about a year after the approval was
granted, there was indeed a school.
By the time the first set of students – boys and girls –
arrived in September 1977, some buildings had sprung up, but there was still
work to be done.
Some bushes still needed to be cleared and there were
trees yet to be uprooted. The task fell on the students. Consequently, the most
common punishment was the uprooting of trees. In a bid to ensure that the
school continued to develop its infrastructure, one of the principals became
very creative, introducing an unusual kind of punishment for truancy. Rather
than flogging any student caught scaling the school fence, the punishment was a
bag of cement.
There was no boarding house, yet many of the students
came from far-flung places. The school authorities had no choice but to
improvise. The community, once again, rose to the occasion, providing a
classroom block of the primary school, Group School Amaiyi Obohia, as an
emergency hostel.
The environment was harsh. The students would go to the
local stream to fetch water for their domestic chores everyday. But the
villagers helped in making sure they settled in well. The students were so
integrated into the community that some of them even competed with the locals
during the annual wrestling contests at the Nkwo Obohia market.
But most of the older students had a hitch. Imo State
government had an age cap of 14 years for fresh students, a policy Dr. Agom
Eze, Commissioner for Education and Information, was prepared to follow
through.
The pioneer principal, Mr. Edward Amadi, turned back some
of the students who were in their 20s until the policy, which didn’t make sense
in the first place considering that these were boys and girls whose education
was disrupted by the civil war, was rescinded. In fact, some of them were
actually recruited into the “Boys Company” of the Biafran Army.
It was in this same school that I gained admission for my
secondary education in 1978. We were the second set of students to be admitted.
SETESCO had little or no paraphernalia of a secondary
school. There was neither a library nor science laboratory. The school had no
generator and there was no public power supply in the community. There was no
borehole. Students had to go to the stream to fetch water.
Within the first five years, the school had three
principals – Mr. Amadi, Mr. O.U Duru and Mr. Vincent Akubueze. They were all
father-figures who cared for the students as they would for their own
biological children. Every morning at the assembly ground, Mr. Amadi would call
out the names of every student of the 1977 set to ensure that they were all
accounted for. Such was the devotion to duty and sense of responsibility.
With the exception of the principal, none of the pioneer
teachers had a Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE), not to talk of
university degree. In fact, half of them were drafted from primary schools with
certificates from teachers training colleges. I still don’t know the criteria
for the elevation, but what was evident was that they didn’t have the
prerequisite qualifications for their new jobs.
The other half were “auxiliary teachers,” mostly young
men and women who had just left secondary school with good grades in their WAEC
results. Many left few years later in pursuit of the Golden Fleece in various
institutions of higher learning.
Some of these dire situations changed for the better over
the years, when the school had science laboratory and more qualified teachers
came on board with some of those drafted from primary schools going back to
their former stations.
But one thing was glaring. Despite their handicaps, the
pioneer teachers were remarkably dedicated and passionate, the success of their
students being the ultimate motivation.
Their sacrifice of love, commitment and insatiable
appetite to impact knowledge rubbed off positively on the students. The quest
for knowledge and excellence was extraordinary. There was competition in
burning the axiomatic midnight candle. The distractions were few and
negligible.
The result was phenomenal. Despite the humble beginnings,
many of the students excelled in academics, passing their West African School
Certificate Examination (WASCE) in good grades, and gaining admission into the
universities. Today, many SETESCO alumni are high-flying professionals proving
their mettle in plum jobs locally and internationally. Those that opted for
business are also shining.
But just like the story of our country Nigeria, sadly, 41
years after, as it nears its golden jubilee, the school has become seedy.
Though the few teachers there today are better qualified,
they are not enough and the quality of education is at an all-time low. Most
senior secondary school students can hardly read and write. They have no role
models, little or no aspirations and therefore, no motivation to study hard and
excel. There is no library. The science laboratory is no more. The buildings
have become so dilapidated that you wonder how any kind of teaching and
learning could go on in such a squalid environment. And there is acute dearth
of science teachers.
When we left SETESCO 35 years ago, there was no GSM.
Everyone simply disappeared into the thin air, each to his own world.
Almost four decades later, the consensus is that if there
will be any redemption for the school, it must come from the old students
through a vibrant alumni association. But the problem was, where are they? How
can they be located?
Last month, technology came to the rescue. A simple
WhatSapp Forum – SETESCO Old Students Association – did the magic. Suddenly the
internet is on fire, literally.
Old students of the school have signed on. Surprisingly,
almost a third of the population live in the Diaspora – particularly Europe and
America. The enthusiasm is electric. The bonding that has taken place in only
one month is infectious. It is as if we never separated.
A meeting tagged “Consequential Homecoming” has been
fixed for December 31 at the school premises. Emergency tickets are being
bought by those in the Diaspora who want to be physically present for the
momentous reunion.
And there is a three-pronged agenda – to set up an alumni
association, raise funds for the urgent task of rebuilding the school’s grossly
dilapidated infrastructure, and mentoring the students by visiting and talking
to them in their classrooms.
There is a fervent desire to give back to the school that
gave most of us a break in life. All of us talk about our humble beginnings at
the school with nostalgia. The feeling is indescribable.
Even in the absence of government that has utterly failed
in its social responsibilities, after many years of neglect and decay,
Secondary Technical School Obohia will rise and shine again as the old students
rally for the redemption of the glory of their alma mater.
And by the way, SETESCO’s Motto is: To Rise and Shine.
*Amaechi,
MD/E-in-C of TheNiche newspaper, an alumnus of SETESCO wrote in from Lagos
No comments:
Post a Comment