For six years, the children of the Odo-Ona Community, Ibadan South West LGA, Oyo, couldn’t access quality education. The only primary school in the community was dilapidated. Pupils sat on the floor to learn, the roofs had been blown away, attendance dwindled as parents started withdrawing their wards from school, and the children stayed home without alternate access to education.
In June 2021, we visited the community and commenced advocacy efforts for the school. We held a town hall meeting with the teachers and school board management committee. We wrote letters to the Senator, Sen Kolawole Balogun of Oyo South Senatorial District, and the community’s federal rep, Hon Stanley Olajide, for the renovation of the dilapidated structures in the school.
But the closest thing to an action by the government was the condolence visit to the school when some of the classrooms caught fire and burnt in 2021 due to electrical malfunctions. We also called out the state government and federal representatives on our Twitter page, and shortly after, the school got their attention.
Our continuous advocacy resulted in the reconstruction of the school, nominated as a project in the 2022 FG Budget for ₦12.7 million under the Federal Ministry of Education.
Reconstruction finally started in Odo Ona Community School in 2022. By June 2023, one block of two classrooms was constructed and furnished. The Oyo State Universal Education Board also built two blocks of three classrooms, completed in June 2023. The school now boasts of two blocks of five classrooms.
Shortly after the completion of this project, parents started returning their children to school.
When we visited again in February 2024, the school management, parents and staff expressed gratitude for this intervention.
“I must say I am really surprised about the outcome of this intervention. When you came and we started all the engagements, I thought, let us do it, but I don’t think it will work. Here we are two years later. The children have more than enough classrooms, and enrolment has increased by 80% this year. Attendance has increased by 95%,” the headmistress marvelled.
The headmistress, Mrs Abati, said they received intervention from the Federal Government, Oyo State government and Ibadan South-West LGA, so they now had 11 fully furnished classrooms available.
One of the teachers said, “The face of the school has really changed, and this has lured more parents to enrol their children, and the ones that left before are now returning. Even we are happy to come to school to teach because everywhere is now better.”
The PTA is also encouraging other parents to enrol their children. In their words: “Our children are now secure with the new development and can learn very well”.
The headmistress also noted that for the first time in many years, the school will host an inter-house sports event to increase prestige and encourage enrollment.
Story by Adeyemi Ademuyiwa and Ayomide Ladipo
