Examination activities were brought to a halt in Taraba State on Wednesday when violent winds and heavy rainfall caused multiple classroom collapses at Government Secondary School, Namne, trapping hundreds of students and invigilators beneath the debris.
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The disaster struck around 6 pm during the second examination session of the day at the school located in Gassol Local Government Area, as students were sitting for their Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE).
According to eyewitness Alhaji DanAzumi Lauris, a resident, the timing of the collapse likely prevented a more severe tragedy. “The first set of students had completed their papers and left the school premises shortly before the disaster occurred,” he told Daily Trust.
Community members immediately mobilised rescue efforts, rushing to the scene to extract those trapped under the collapsed structures. The prompt response proved crucial, as no fatalities were reported despite the scale of the destruction.
Injured students, teachers, and corps members were evacuated to a primary healthcare centre located just metres from the school, where they are currently receiving medical treatment.
The severe weather system that devastated the school extended its destructive impact beyond the educational facility. DanAzumi reported that many houses throughout the community were also destroyed by the same storm.
The extreme weather conditions affected examination activities across the region. In Jalingo town, students were unable to return home until after 1 am due to heavy rainfall that began during their examinations and persisted for hours, making travel impossible.
The incident highlights the vulnerability of educational infrastructure to severe weather events and raises concerns about student safety during critical examination periods in the region.
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