Children attending Abaji South Primary School in Abaji Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory are being forced to learn in deplorable conditions, with some pupils sitting on bare floors while others reportedly search the community for stones to use as makeshift seats.
The situation has raised fresh questions about the FCT Administration’s commitment to providing basic educational infrastructure beyond Abuja’s major roads, bridges and urban development projects.
The pupils at the rural school are reportedly learning without adequate desks and chairs, leaving them to improvise simply to find somewhere to sit during lessons.
For some children, attending school means sitting directly on the hard floor. Others have resorted to picking up stones from around the community and taking them into their classrooms as makeshift seats.
The situation is particularly disturbing because Abaji is part of the Federal Capital Territory, which has access to substantial public resources for infrastructure and development.
The National Assembly approved a ₦2.285 trillion budget for the FCT for 2026, with ₦1.741 trillion — about 76 per cent — allocated to capital projects. The education sector alone received ₦162 billion in the capital budget.
Against that financial backdrop, the condition of Abaji South Primary School raises a fundamental question: how can billions of naira be committed to development while children in parts of the FCT still struggle to access the most basic requirements for learning?
This is not merely a furniture problem. It is an issue of dignity, safety and the quality of education available to children in underserved communities.
The FCT Administration, led by Minister Nyesom Wike, alongside the FCT Universal Basic Education Board and Abaji Area Council authorities, should urgently inspect the school and establish what is required to bring its facilities up to an acceptable standard.
The authorities should provide adequate classrooms, desks, chairs and other essential learning facilities, rather than allowing children in rural communities to remain at the bottom of the development agenda.
The FCT should not be judged only by the scale of its urban projects and infrastructure in the city centre. Development must also reach the classrooms where children in satellite communities and rural areas are being prepared for the future.
A child should not have to search for a stone in the community simply to find somewhere to sit and learn.
