Recently, robbers broke into Imo State Secondary School for the Deaf in Ofekata Orodo, Imo State carting away valuables. The school authority expressed displeasure over the repeated breaking by thieves, destruction of school property and the dilapidated condition of the school.
The story of the school and the future of its deaf students is very pathetic, lamented Mr. Ugochukwu Peter, a duty Principal of the school.
In a chat with Inclusive News Network, INN Mr Ugochukwu explained that stealing and willful destruction of the school property is an age long problem being suffered by the School over the years.
He noted that the thieves had broken into the School’s administrative office twice. Mr. Ugochukwu also added that the thieves stole and carted away valuable items that included fans and some other school property in the first attempt.
“Those thieves had entered the same office before. In the first attempt, the fan was the most noticeable object removed, the school has not reopened fully for us to assess other things that are missing. Many reference textbooks were piled on the reading tables by them and it is unlikely a thief will break ceilings to enter a room only to steal a fan” he stated.
The second attempt to steal more property of the school was not successful this time as eyes witness caught them attempting to steal electrical installations, clock and some other properties only for them to run away abandoning everything.
The electrical installations and other property the thieves abandoned
“This second operation was not successful as the first. They had entered Library through their early opening and stripped the Library of all electrical installations, clock, etc.
“They also ransacked my table removed stapler, bunch of keys for stores and offices. It was also noticed that thieves forcefully tried to open some doors in the school premises with the bunch of keys they saw but could not match it from the key bunches.”
Explaining further, Mr. Ugochukwu stated “After their operations, they were arranging their loots, when they ran out of luck. Our students had gone home after their exams (on Friday, 18 September) but suddenly about four students of our school came back between 7 and 8 pm. Since the main gate was locked earlier, they jumped the fence into the school compound, but instead of going left to their (boys) Dorm, they headed right towards the school compound where the criminals were busy arranging their loots. On sighting the students’ torch lights, they abandoned their loot, scaled the low fences -three of them and made the best use of their legs.”
A video sighted by INN also showed how the thieves broke in through the ceiling in Junior Secondary School 3 classroom, entered the roof, broke library ceiling and got down into library. They also came out from the same opening with electrical installations and some other things which was abandoned after they ran away.
Our investigation reveals that the school was yet to report the breaking in to the police since the incident. When asked why he had not reported the situation to the police, Mr. Ugochukwu said “I have not reported to the police because administratively, I am not the right person to report the incident.”
He called on government and private organisations to assist the school in academics materials, infrastructure and capable workers to aid the protection and smooth running of the school.
“The school also needs qualified special education teachers and non tutorials to make the school truly an academic centre and a conducive teaching and learning environment for the students since it is the only secondary school serving the Deaf in the state.” He concluded