By CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE

The Union Secondary School, Obosi, Anambra state has been transformed to a smart school because the Anambra state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, sets store by education. Formerly known as Girls’ Secondary School, Obosi, and founded in 1977, it has shed its toga of a rural and backward school to assume the hue of a smart school.

The Anambra state governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, is a firm believer in the saying that education is the bedrock of national development. And it is the credo that is driving his execution of policies in the education sector, which has led to the transformation of rural schools to smart schools in Anambra state.

And Gov. Soludo’s educational mantra, “education is the equalizer of opportunities between children of the rich and children of the poor,” informed the execution of projects at Union Secondary School, Obosi, which elevated the status of the school from a backward school to a modern one.

The principal of the school, Mrs. Comfort Ebele Onugha, who was beside herself with joy, owing to the transformation of the school, expressed their appreciation to the Anambra state governor, while conducting this writer, who was on a fact-finding mission, round the school buildings.

“We are happy because of the projects executed in our school, which have made it salubrious for learning; and these completed projects have positioned the school to serve the educational needs of the students in the 21st century,” Onugha said.

Now, people visiting the school will notice that the fence built around the large expanse of land, on which the school buildings are sitting, gleam in the sun as it is re-painted.

Again, each of the classrooms is fitted with a projector and a board for use by the teachers. And more than one thousand chairs and tables, which are for the students, are distributed to the classes.

More so, the school buildings have adorned fascinating looks as they’re repainted and re-roofed. And the floors of the classroom buildings are fitted with tiles.

And as information communication technology (ICT) is pivotal to the students’ acquisition of knowledge, an ICT laboratory is built for the school. And the computers supplied to it would be installed soon.

Knowing that the functionality of the ICT Centre is dependent on regular supply of electricity, electricity solar system has been installed in the school, too.

More so, a borehole is sunk in the school to provide potable water, which will be used for educational, domestic, and drinking purposes by both the students of the school and its staff.

Owing to the great transformation, which the school has undergone, making it a modern school that can serve the educational and moral needs of the students in the 21st century, there is a spike in the students’ population.

To check the burgeoning number of students in the school, the school principal, Mrs. Comfort Onugha, said that students from other schools, who are seeking admission into USS Obosi, should sit for admission examinations to ascertain their eligibility for admission into the school.

Although the school is equipped with a library stocked with books, ICT Laboratory, chairs, tables, solar machine, running tap water, projectors, boards, and others, it is without a Home Economics laboratory.

And its classrooms are inadequate to accommodate the burgeoning number of students seeking admissions into it.

“I am calling on the Anambra state government, affluent Obosi indigenes, and alumnae of the school to come to the aid of the school regarding building of Home Economics laboratory and more classroom blocks.

“And I am begging them to re-roof our school dormitories, some roofs of which were looted and others blown off by the wind. The tumbledown dormitories are being destroyed by the elements, now.

“If the dormitories are re-built, they will be converted to classrooms to accommodate the new students who are being admitted to our school,” Onugha said.

More so, Mrs. Comfort Onugha, the principal of Union Secondary School, Obosi, lamented that the school is beset with grave security challenges, citing incidents of burglaries and vandalization of school buildings and properties, which happened in the school over the years.

So she begged the Obosi Development Union (ODU) leadership to rise to the school’s security challenges by sending more security operatives to the school.

“Our major problem is dearth of security operatives, who will guard our school buildings to prevent vandals and armed robbers from gaining entrance into the school premises.

“I am begging Obosi community, the ODU leadership, and affluent Obosi indigenes to come to our aid regarding beefing the security in our school,” Mrs. Onugha said.

•Okoye is an Information Officer in the Anambra State Ministry of Information, Awka.