Katsina pupils learn in collapsed classrooms despite billions spent on education

A portion of Tsintsiya Primary School in Danja Local Government Area of Katsina State has collapsed, leaving hundreds of pupils learning under severely cracked structures that could collapse at any moment.

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Visual evidence and field documentation released by Monitor Nigeria (@monitng) on X (formerly Twitter) show pupils taking lessons beside broken walls, exposed roofing and piles of disintegrating masonry — conditions that teachers say make daily schooling a gamble with safety.

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“This is not a school; it is a danger zone,” one teacher told Monitor Nigeria. The group’s report indicates that an entire block has collapsed, forcing children to cluster around unstable classrooms with gaping cracks and sinking foundations.

The numbers behind the crisis

According to the latest data from UNICEF, Katsina State currently has over 536,000 children out of school.

In a more recent briefing tied to the 2025 report, which was unpacked on World Children’s Day, UNICEF quoted a figure of approximately 300,000, placing the state, along with Kano and Jigawa, among the top contributors to Nigeria’s overall burden.

Malnutrition remains pervasive. The recently released data show that Katsina records a child stunting rate of 64.6 per cent, which is among the highest in the region.

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UNICEF also finds that more than 70 per cent of children in Katsina are multi-dimensionally poor, lacking access to adequate nutrition, health care, clean water, sanitation and quality education.

According to the 2021 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), as referenced by UNICEF in its education fact sheets, children in states such as Katsina face much higher out-of-school rates compared to national averages.

These figures help explain why, even before the collapse of Tsintsiya Primary School, many children in rural Katsina had limited or no access to formal education. The collapse only deepens an already dire structural and human-capital crisis.

Tsintsiya collapse: Result of decades of neglect

The state of disrepair at Tsintsiya Primary is more than an isolated infrastructural failure. It reflects systemic neglect. In a state that once produced the President of Nigeria, scant attention appears to have been paid to basic public education infrastructure.

Observers note the bitter irony: Katsina wielded national influence for nearly a decade, yet its rural children risk their lives to attend school. Monitor Nigeria argues that the decay is not accidental but symptomatic of misplaced priorities. Governance, in this view, became more about prestige projects than ensuring safe classrooms for vulnerable children.

Why this matters for Katsina’s future

With hundreds of thousands of students out of school and many more attending dilapidated or damaged schools, Katsina’s prospects for human capital development are seriously undermined.

High child stunting and multidimensional poverty translate into cognitive and health deficits that can impair educational outcomes — even for those in classrooms.

The collapse of schools like Tsintsiya reinforces barriers to access, particularly for rural and low-income communities, entrenching inequality and perpetuating generational disadvantage.

READ ALSO: SPECIAL REPORT: Poor infrastructure, long distance hinder schooling in Abuja community

A Call to Action

Civil-society actors and education advocates have called on the government of Dikko Radda to declare a state of emergency on school infrastructure in Katsina. According to Monitor Nigeria:

“Rebuilding this school must be urgent. Katsina’s children deserve safe classrooms, dignity and a government that understands that education is not a prestige project — it is the foundation for development,” Monitor Nigeria advised.

With the collapse of Tsintsiya Primary School, residents of Danja LGA watch and wait, hoping those alarming images will finally push the state to invest in the safety and dignity of its future generation.