Lagos ramshackle school where hoodlums defecate in classrooms

For Ndidi Godwin, switching her children’s education from a private to a public school has turned out to be a huge mistake. The Methodist Primary School, Ewu-Tuntun, which her two daughters attend has gradually – but steadily – become a shadow of itself over the past years. And there seems to be no succour in sight.

“I removed them from private school and brought them here because I know what I got in a public school,” said Mrs Godwin, who runs a shop near the primary school.

“It’s public school I went to in Lagos State. For primary, I went to Ajubiliee Primary school, secondary is Bolade Grammar School, then Lagos State Polytechnic, have I not achieved?”

But the current state of Methodist Primary School, Ewu Tuntun in Oshodi, Lagos, is a far cry from what Mrs Godwin experienced in her days.

Established in 1953, the school with a pupil population of 374 consists of three buildings housing 18 classrooms. Ten of the classrooms are not in use while the remaining eight are in advanced stages of disrepair – no windows, broken ceilings, cracked walls, and tattered, leaky roofs.

A haven for hoodlums
Methodist Primary School, Ewu Tuntun, is situated in Oshodi, a bustling community in the heart of Lagos popular for hosting major motor parks as well as housing hoodlums. About 10 kilometres from the school, the state government’s ambitious multi-billion naira Oshodi Transport Interchange springs into view as the project enters its final stages of completion.

But the decrepit state of facilities in the primary school at Ewu Tuntun remains in need of urgent, total rehabilitation. In the meantime, it serves as a haven for hoodlums who not only come to smoke Indian Hemp but also defecate on the premises. The abandoned classrooms have been turned to sleeping spaces for the homeless.

During a recent visit by a PREMIUM TIMES correspondent, the stench of stale urine and overnight faeces hung thick in the air.

 A classroom turned toilet for hoodlums at Ogundele community where Methodist School, Ewu-tuntun, Oshodi is located
The smell filters into the pupils’ classrooms during school hours.

“All the classrooms are in totally bad states, if you enter the classrooms, they smell like drainage,” said Mrs Godwin.

“No fence, no security for our children, even the classrooms are not good for learning. Many big people attended this school, in fact, there are many old students of the school living in this area, but nothing has been done.

“We hope that the government will do something about the condition of the school.”

Another parent said the school premises have become a playground for hoodlums.

“There was even a time a classroom got burnt as a result of remnant of a cigarette left in the classroom. Bola Tinubu visited this place when that happened but nothing has been done about the school,” said the parent who preferred not to be named.

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