Posted by By Kenny Ashaka, Kaduna on
Of course they did not bargain for it, but a recent fire outbreak that razed parts of the high-brow Nigerian-Turkish International Boys College, Malali GRA, Kaduna has blown the lead on some condemnable practices carried out by the Turkish proprietors of the school.
Of course they did not bargain for it, but a recent fire outbreak that razed parts of the high-brow Nigerian-Turkish International Boys College, Malali GRA, Kaduna has blown the lead on some condemnable practices carried out by the Turkish proprietors of the school.
Most stakeholders of the school and members of the Parents Teachers Association were appalled to discover that in absolute contrast to the high fees the school charged, the authorities had scant regards for the educational needs of their wards as reflected in the utter lack of facilities in the school.
Speaking to Sunday Sun in the premises of the school, some parents expressed revulsion at the fact that the school authorities housed ten students in a small room of about 12 by 10 feet even when they charge a staggering N454, 500 per session in school fees.
They were no less bewildered to discover that what the Turkish authorities of the school had projected as an elite school had no fire extinguisher to fight fire and save the lives of its over 120 students in the event of an outbreak.
They also discovered that the school was poorly planned as the dormitory has only one exit, which makes it difficult for students to run to safety in times of eventuality and only one empty laboratory to serve the entire students population. The students were lucky to have been out for routine preparatory classes when the fire broke out last Tuesday.
One of the disenchanted parents who spoke in anonymity lamented the poor state of things in the school. Said she: 'We thought that with white men like the Turks running a school like this, our children would have quality education. Look at what has happened. Had the students been in the dormitory when the fire broke out, you could imagine what would have happened. We would have had another problem like the one that happened at the All Saints School along the Western Bye-pass.
'The question I ask is, can this kind of thing happen in Turkey? Can Nigerians run a school in Turkey, charge such high school fees and deliver nothing? Not even a fire extinguisher. I was told the Commissioner for Education was there, and he made the same observation that ‘how can there be no fire extinguisher in the school?", she asked.
The school is one of the contradictions in the country;s education system. While the school collects N454, 500 per student per annum, it has little facilities. One of the students mockingly told Sunday Sun that his father's compound was bigger than their school. Sunday Sun investigations showed that the school's practices run counter to local laws on expatriate quota as the Nigerian teachers in the school are poorly remunerated earning a paltry N40, 000 in monthly salaries while their Turkish colleagues who have lower qualifications earn a minimum of N90, 000 per month.
The Nigerian-Turkish International Boys College is one of the Nigerian-Turkish Schools run in Lagos, Kaduna, Kano and Aubja. In Kaduna, the school began from Gonin Gora at the Zangon Estate as Balm and Turkish School in the year 2002 before relocating to its present site.
When Sunday Sun visited the school to sound out the authorities on its discoveries two Turks in company of a Nigerian simply called Mr. Waziri, the Vice-Principal, Administration, ordered one of the security men to march this reporter out of the premises.
'We don't want you here, out. The principal is not here, out, out and don't ever come here again", one of the Turks yelled. Efforts to speak to the Kaduna State Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Bello Kagarko did not yield any fruits.