Students of Government Secondary School (GSS) Bwari, Federal Capital Territory, have been displaced from their hostels as a rainstorm battered their school last Thursday.
A staff of the school, Abdullahi, who conducted our reporter round the affected structures, said the incident happened around 3:45pm when the downpour, accompanied by strong winds, blew off part of the roofs of both the male and female hostels of the school.
Aso Chronicle however gathered that the incident happened when students of the boarding school were yet to return from the Eid-el-Fitr Sallah break.
Our reporter observed that the school laboratory, dining hall, electric poles and fence were also destroyed by the rainstorm.
The teacher however said no life was lost as staff were not close to the scene of devastation.
He explained that the destructive storm had disrupted academic activities of the school, adding however that the management of the school had put in place measures to avoid staggered academic calendar.
The principal of the school, Mrs. Favour Edem, gave praise to God that students were not in the hostel when the incident happened.
A resident of the area, Mr. Emmanuel James, said his house was also affected by the rainstorm, adding that part of his roof was blown off by the storm.
He said he was forced to evacuate some of his property to a neighbour’s house. He however gave praise to God that none of his family members sustained any injury.
“In fact, it was a traumatic experience when the rainstorm almost blew off the roof of my house,” he said.
The chairman of the Secondary Education Board (SEB) in FCT, Alhaji Musa Yahaya Muhammad, in company of some members of the board, who visited the school to see the extent of damage, described the incident as very unfortunate.
He also gave thanks to God that the students of the school were on mid-term break when the incident happened, saying casualties would have been recorded if students were in school.
“The rainstorm wreaked havoc such that the entire parameter school fence has collapsed and almost 16 electric poles pulled down, while the roofs of both the girls and boys hostels were blown off as well as the school laboratory,” he said.
He added that Government Secondary School (GSS) Rubochi, Kuje Area Council, also suffered destruction in another rainstorm incident some weeks ago.
The SEB board chairman said the board had already written to the FCT permanent secretary, Mr. Chinyeaka Ohaa, for approval to embark on repair of the affected schools.
“We are more concerned about the security of lives and property of the students as they need to be secured and that is why we immediately wrote a memo to the FCT permanent secretary for approval to embark on emergency procurement of materials so that teaching and learning will resume immediately,” he said.
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