January 16, 2026 l By Dalena Reporters
Pupils at LEA Primary School, Dupka, in Ibwa Ward of Gwagwalada Area Council, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, are confronting stark educational deprivation as they continue to attend classes without basic furniture learning without desks or chairs even after funding purportedly released by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for school improvement.
A report released Friday by civic advocacy group MonITng paints a disturbing picture of daily hardship for children who sit on bare floors inside overcrowded classrooms, deprived of essential learning furniture while the official narrative highlights school renovations and upgrades across FCT public schools.
MonITng’s field assessment emphasised that the classroom conditions starkly contradict government claims of progress in infrastructure and basic amenities provision. Rather than improved learning environments, pupils at the Dupka school endure “extremely poor conditions,” according to the statement, with inadequate ventilation and an acute lack of instructional materials exacerbating an already challenging learning atmosphere.
“Children are forced to sit on bare floors in overcrowded classrooms, with no desks or chairs to support learning,” the advocacy group said, underlining that these deficits compromise students’ dignity and undermine their right to quality education.
The overcrowding has also deprived teachers of the ability to effectively engage with pupils, according to the organisation, which warned that large class sizes and insufficient teaching resources have already begun to erode comprehension, participation, and overall academic outcomes in the school.
Critically, MonITng connected the deplorable conditions to breakdowns in the allocation and utilisation of UBEC and other basic education funds. Despite records indicating billions of naira disbursed for basic education enhancement nationwide, the advocacy group declared that in Gwagwalada Area Council “those funds are not translating into improved classrooms, furniture, or learning tools.”
Instead, the organisation claimed, local area council officials prioritised unrelated expenditures, alleging that chairmen have been seen donating vehicles to political affiliates while schools languish. The statement charged that the FCT Minister and Area Council leadership have failed to address the crisis, describing this inertia as intolerable for the affected children and their communities.
MonITng’s appeal calls for urgent intervention to reverse the glaring disparities between official pronouncements on educational reform and actual conditions on the ground. It urged the FCT Minister Nyesom Wike and FCT Senator Ireti Kingibe to ensure that quality education is more than a policy statement demanding tangible improvements in classrooms including furniture, instructional resources, and safer learning environments.
The Dupka situation is emblematic of broader systemic challenges within Nigeria’s basic education sector, reflecting a widening gulf between allocated funding and its impact on the daily realities of pupils and teachers across FCT public schools.