...Infrastructural decay, deplorable road condition impedes school growth
...How students learn sitting on bare floor
Priscilla Akpanettot
This is Lott Carey Baptist Secondary School, located at the Afaha Obio Eno community in Ibiono-Ibom Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Established in 1960, the School remains one of the foremost citadels of learning in the State, having churned out a good number of public figures in the society, among which are the former Governor of the State, Obong Victor Attah.
History has it that this school was built by Sen. Ita Enang’s father-in-law, Late Charles Ebong, before its management was taken over by the State Government. Recently, during the passage rites of Late Madam Agnes Charles Ebong (the pioneer Proprietor's wife), one of the classroom blocks was used as a venue to host guests, probably in honour and memory of her late husband, who founded the school.
In its days of glory, Lott Carey, according to members of the host community, was the bride and pride of Ibiono-Ibom in terms of academic excellence. From boarding facilities to conducive learning environment, standard classrooms, quality teachers, learning aids such as a state-of-the-art library, functional laboratories and a massive field for recreational activities; the school attracted day students from as far as Mbiabam, Okobo Ibiono, Urua Ekpa, Ikot Ada Idem, Ikot Ambang, Itak, Ekit Itam, Odiok Itam and surrounding communities who found no other School attractive and worthy of their association, while boarders were predominantly students from other Local Government Areas and States who all wanted to be identified with the famous Lott Carey.
Today, the same school which stood tall among it contemporaries lives in its past glory. The fanfare, aura, and prestige it was known for are buried in the decay, which consumes the school layer by layer, by the day, threatening it with extinction.
Today’s Lott Carey is a stark representation of infrastructural neglect, abandonment, and starvation. The roofs have fallen, floors are broken, windows and doors are no more, and the buildings are gradually sinking into the water-logged soil.
Most of the classroom desks have become unusable due to wear and tear, causing the majority of students to take their lessons and exams sitting on broken floors and window frames, with some others standing to learn. The same story applies to the exam hall. Students hang on window frames and sit on bare floors to write their examinations.
The library, which has become a make-shift staff room due to the lack of chairs and tables in the main staff room, is but a museum housing very old and outdated books which are no longer in use. The Science, Chemistry, Physics, and Biology Laboratories are nothing but monuments as well.
Even more, the school is lacking in core subject teachers such as Computer and English Language, particularly.
“How do you teach Computer Science without showing it?” one of the School’s staff who pleaded anonymity expressed. These children don’t know what a Computer looks like or what a mouse is…we only write on the board”, the staff said, referring to the old chalkboard constructed from the onset in the 60s which they still use in today’s modern world of knowledge impartation.
“Some teachers are only trying to assist so that the students do not suffer much because it would be very bad for a parent to see their child’s results without English Language”, the staff added. As a result, the subject is taught by any available teacher whenever the only subject teacher is indisposed.
Save for the 2009 ETF building in the school premises, nothing else is suggestive of government’s effort or presence at the present-day Lott Carey. The School’s Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), when it was active, was able to undertake the roofing of one of the classroom blocks, but the Association is fast becoming non-existent as well.
Perhaps the worst part of Lott Carey’s misfortune is the lack of access road. The current state of the road poses a great risk to students’ safety and threatens the school’s growth and population, which is now less than a thousand. “There was a very deep ravine close to the School so that if you cut a very tall palm tree to put inside, it will swallow it up”, the staff said, while explaining that the road suffers the effect of erosion and flooding from Ntang Inyang river, where a bridge was supposed to be built. Save for the cosmetic intervention done by Sen. Ita Enang, during his mother-in-law’s burial, the situation would have been worse.
When asked of their efforts to communicate these drawbacks to the Ministry of Education, the staff responded that none of their efforts had yielded positive results.
“The Ministry is not doing well. When they remove an English teacher, they will not return another.
Moreover, even when the teachers are sent down here, they don’t come because of the bad road condition. And there are no staff quarters either, so the school is currently struggling with 1 English teacher. All through the last aca
demic session, we had no single English teacher. When that one teacher went for a surgical operation and could not come to school, a Biology teacher and another teacher teaching C.R.S had to stand in the gap for him. ‘Madam’ (the Principal who also pleaded anonymity) has written to the board even till last term. Yet, nothing has been done about it”, the staff lamented.
Good enough, Lott Carey has no security threat. The host community is doing its best to secure the property and also helping in the discipline of erring students, but this does not rule out the fact that the school needs perimeter fencing.
Education as captured in the 2026 Akwa Ibom State budget stands at N31.6billion. While the State Governor affirms his administration’s resolve to transform the State’s education sector through the ARISE Educational Renewal Initiative with the construction of Model schools across the three senatorial districts of the State, attention should as well be paid to schools like Lott Carey which had been and has produced substantial intellectual resources over the years.
Schools like these are part of the labours of our heroes past which should not be in vain.
This is also a wake-up call to old students of the school to return home and help the school regain its former glory. This will help ensure that the primary fountain of their knowledge does not go dry for others’ use.
