Okpebholo renovating, reconstructing 100 schools to mark 100 days in office

BENIN CITY – AS part of his desire to make an immediate impact, the governor of Edo State, Sen. Monday Okpebholo is reconstructing and renovating structures in 100 schools across the state to mark his 100 days in office.

The Chairman, Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mrs Onomen Goodness Brigg stated this when she accompanied by the member representing Edo South in the Board, Mrs Angela Okpamen als called on communities where schools are located, parents and residents to help check vandalism of schools’ facilities adding that Governor Okpebholo was already including fencing of all the schools his administration would work on.

She visited Ebo Primary School in Iyekhogba and Ore-Oghene Primary school both in Oredo local government area and Evbareke Junior Secondary School, Use Junior Secondary School and Okhekhugbo Primary school in Egor local government area where she said all the renovation and reconstruction works would be competed between one week to three weeks.

According to her, “Security is one major issue we have to look into and we also have to sensitize the communities so that they can put an eye on these properties because the children are the ones that will suffer if these facilities are destroyed if these thefts and vandalism continue so we need to sensitize the people and the community, everybody involved, the teachers, and the pupils and students so that if they see anything they can say something

“Fences are part of the security arrangement so we are also going to make sure that these schools have fences and security posts so that you can only come into the compound through the security post into the school, this is also key to us and the governor has already started. Most of the construction going on, fencing is part of what he is looking at.”

Briggs said “We did five today, we have a hundred currently going on all across the state, we are going to Edo central and Edo North within the week

“The construction and the renovation includes furnishing, so the chairs and the tables are already part of it. You can’t put a new wine in an old wine skin so you can’t get new chairs and tables and put them in a dilapidated building so we need the buildings to be good and okay then furniture can go in.

“Some of them will be completed in one week, some less than a week and then two week and maximum three weeks” she said.

It was observed that in many of the schools visited, the pupils lack furniture as many sat on the floor while some where overcrowded with about 200 students of four arms using one classroom.