CALEB ONWE 
After 30 years of existence, School For The Gifted Children, Abuja, had almost gone but for a recent intervention, CALEB ONWE reports
The School For The Gifted, located in Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja, is a special co-educational institution, established by the Federal Capital Territory Administration ( FCTA), in 1993.
This special purpose-vehicle institution, which eventually commenced academic activities in 1994, was built with public funds to cater for the needs of hyperactive, intelligent children from all walks of life.
The founding fathers of the school, wanted it to be an institution: “To mould, develop and nurture to the optimum level, children with high intellectual and creative potential abilities.
“To provide teaching, learning experience in specific areas of need peculiar to the gifted children and encourage them to develop their innate qualities to bring them to become great leaders”.
After 30 years of existence, the school had gradually started plummeting into the abyss of irrelevance. The rot in the school progressed to the extent that the vision and mission statement of the founders of the school became doubtful.
In fact, the school’s vision and mission statements were already getting drowned in the mud of negligence and inadequate funding.
Indeed, many of the infrastructures in the school had decayed beyond recognition, and both staffers and students were expectantly waiting for a messiah.
Rescue mission
It took the quick intervention of the current Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, , Nyesom Wike, to arrest the dangerous drift. Inside Abuja gathered that before the Minister swiftly ordered for the school’s comprehensive rehabilitation, parents, students and even teachers were already loathing everything that has to do with this once famous citadel of excellence.
It was learnt that the FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, on hearing about the rot in public education system in the FCT, ordered for emergency repairs in many of the schools.
The School for the Gifted, Gwagwalada, was lucky to have been selected for the much needed rehabilitation. During a recent visit to the school, on impact assessment review, it was discovered that the glory of the 30-year old school has been restored.
Many of the dilapidated buildings have been refurbished, and providing the needed ambience that aid learning. The environmental landscape of the school had been given a transformative facelift.
Inside Abuja gathered that the confidence of both staffers and students have been boosted, knowing that the imminent collapse had been averted. It was learnt that before the Minister’s intervention, some of the classrooms, the dinning hall and the toilets were in very deplorable conditions.
Testimonial
The school’s principal, Bello Audu, is not just appreciative that the school was rehabilitated , but grateful to God that he was alive to see the gifted children becoming great through the full maximisation of their potentials.
Audu expressed joy that the school with over 600 students of Senior Secondary School 1-3, had regained its lost glory. The Principal said: ”
Before the intervention of the Honorable Minister, the School for the Gifted was in a state of sorrow. You will all agree with me that any structure at all has its lifespan.
The school, as of last year, September, was 30 years. We are supposed to celebrate 30 years anniversary. The school has gone down the drain in terms of structure, having dilapidated buildings.
In fact if you enter this office I think it was about to collapse before then. “But I want to really thank the minister for his intervention because we were almost losing hope on where we were going to before his arrival.
As you can see and can testify, the school has been given a facelift and it’s looking so beautiful now. “Honestly speaking, the structure, like I said, was almost going down. If you were to go to the staff room before now, the roof was almost coming down to the ground.
Also are you talking about the toilets? Is it the hostel that was always looking like something else? “If you were here before the renovation and you had gone around, you get to pity both the staff and students of the school.
Because so many things were bad, and that gave rise to some reptiles playing host within the school compound because the whole walls were cracked and, gave room for all these reptiles to penetrate.
“Of course, where we didn’t have conducive environment, learning cannot take place successfully. So we’re having that challenge and we tried to manage, but how long can we continue to patch the walls, patch the toilets and so on and so forth.
So that time students were already going outside to defecate in the bush, but we thank God the story has changed”.
Challenges
While the school’s management have vowed to remain grateful to the Minister for swiftly coming to their rescue, they have also outlined some challenges that need to be tackled for the school to meet the required standards.
According to the principal, the furniture in the offices are old and no longer befitting for a learning environment of the school. He also pointed out the epileptic power supply to the school. This, he noted has remained one of the major obstacles to the school community.
“What we have now is solar. The NEPA is gone. We are in need of 33 KV transformer. As I speak now, the inverter that I’m talking about, the solar, is getting weak.
If we want it during the night prep, it will not last for one hour, it’s off. And the cost of running a diesel generator is not funny here. You cannot leave these children alone in darkness. because, like I told you before, they are hyperactive students. They need to be active all the time, carrying out their studies.
“Secondly, with all due respects to our Honorable Minister, the Project Minister, I know he can still do more by the grace of God. We lack furniture.
“Just imagine, look at what my brothers are sitting down upon there. They need to change this table for me. If we go down to the classroom, we see for ourselves. The furniture in the classroom are in a sorry state. “I’m just appealing, like an Oliver Twist.
I’m still asking for more, if it is possible that we get furniture for these students because they need to be comfortable while teaching and learning are taking place”.
Appreciation
Mrs. Rachael Alabi, Vice Principal Academics, could not hide her joy as she glowingly extolled the efforts of the Minister towards the rehabilitation of the school. She said: “My joy over the new environment? Let me say it has no bound.
To be sincere, I want to sincerely appreciate the Honorable Minister of FCT, Barrister Nyesom Wike. He has done us good. Because when we came to this place, the way the school was before he came to rescue us, it’s indescribable.
“We have good students, that are ready to learn. We had good teachers, that are ready to work. But the environment was discouraging. When you get to the staff room, we’ll be praying to God.
‘God, if this place will collapse, do us a favor. Be merciful to us. Don’t let it happen during the day’. That has been my prayer to be sincere.
Because if we get to that place, outside the room could be seen from the inside, to tell you the level that he had gotten to” Ezeora Conrad, a teacher in the school and also the Head of Department, Mathematics, testified that since the school was rehabilitated, the spirit of the students have been rejuvenated.
Conrad also pointed out that: “The students need some digital changes. They need computers, they need flannel boards, they need smart boards, they need some other equipments that will help them.
Some of the students and senior prefects in the school, AbdurRaheem Taufikiyya, .Binuyo Goodnews, and Ikenta Ifechukwu, while applauding the efforts towards the renovation of the school, appealed for more attention to the other needs they have.
They talked about equipping the school library with modern books and learning materials, providing a school bus and constant power supply to the school.
