Category: Education

Cakasa Ebenezer Foundation (CEF) has donated school bags, books and other writing materials to the pupils of three Lagos public primary schools in Mushin Local Government Area (LGA).

The donation was part of Cakasa Ebenezer Foundation’s ‘Kit-a-child’ programme held every new school year.

The schools – all on Ladipo Street, Papa Ajao – are Oduduwa Pry School, Estate Pry School and Papa Ajao Pry School.

The children – 364 of them from kindergarten to primary six – were gifted school bags, exercise books comprising 40 leaves for kids in the older classes and 2A, 2B and 2D for their juniors, pens, pencils, erasers and sharpeners as well as free snacks of doughnuts and a drink.

At Papa Ajao Pry School, Head Teacher
Mrs. Oladele Folayemi described Cakasa Ebenezer Foundation as a godsent for indigent parents and their wards.

Folayemi, who administers the school’s 174 pupils with a staff strength of only five teachers and one cleaner, lamented that most parents had been unable to afford writing materials for their wards.

“I’m very glad because they (CEF) have done a wonderful thing. The parents of some of these pupils have not been able to afford their books. But now all of them that are present today have received the writing materials and I am very glad about that.

“A child came to school with only one notebook. I asked the mum, ‘Is it only one notebook your child will use for 12 subjects?’ She sighed and said ‘God will help me. I’m hoping that by Monday, I would have bought her more notebooks.’ That mother will be pleasantly surprised to see her child return home today with so many books. Many more parents who hear of Cakasa Ebenezer Foundation’s gesture will also be attracted to bring their children to this school. We are very grateful,” she said

The delight was similar at Oduduwa Pry School, where Mrs. Akpan Sifon Godwin is Head Teacher with over 86 pupils and nine-member staff strength.

“I am so happy about today, about what I have seen Cakasa Ebenezer Foundation do for the children. They gave them bags, books and many other things. I am very happy. I pray that the Almighty God will reward them. As they have done for these children, I pray God will do for their kids too and they will continue to make progress in life.

She noted that since she was appointed head teacher last year, “only one other non-governmental organisation has come to visit these kids, but Cakasa has done even more marvellously.”

Mrs. Godwin noted that the school’s challenges were many, and lamented that it seemed the pupils and staff had been abandoned by the government.

Pointing at the broken ceiling of several classrooms, she said: “It seems as if they (government) dumped us here. Everywhere is dilapidated; you can see that even the walls are not painted, we are just like that.

“We are looking for help, people should come and help us; we need more help so that these children will feel at home in school, they will not feel like they’ve been abandoned.

“I have up to 86 kids here, from kindergarten to primary six. My staff strength is nine, both teaching and non-teaching. Each class has one arm each, but because we don’t have enough teachers, we joined two levels in the same class. So, primary one and two are in the same classroom, primary three and four too, etc, because of a lack of teachers.

“I’ve complained about the problem to the authorities, even the Mushin Local Government Area Chairman promised to do something for a long time, but never came back to fulfil his promise.”

Estate Pry School, with its 104 pupils and four teachers, is administered by Mrs Orelaro Abosede who thanked CEF for fulfilling its promise to help the school meet some of its challenges.

“When EkoExcel came to tell us that they wanted to link us up with an NGO that they saw doing wonders somewhere, I said okay, if it is something that will be beneficial to our children, they are wholeheartedly welcome. So, CEF came and we told them some of our problems. They left and promised to return.

“They’ve now fulfilled their promise and have done welcome back to school for the children. I really appreciate Cakasa Ebenezer Foundation. They have been trying and we have seen it now, we have enjoyed it. The donations they made have solved one of the problems we listed.

The CEF team was led by its Executive Director, Mrs. Helen Egbe, who noted that the foundation has been in existence since 2014
She explained that the annual ‘Kit-a-child’ scheme is under CEF’s education portfolio.

Egbe said: “Under education, we try to help parents alleviate the poverty and challenges they are facing getting materials, such as notebooks and school bags for their kids.

“What informed this Kit-a-child’ programme is that most of the children in public schools come to school without writing materials, bags, and school shoes. On one of my visits to one of the primary schools within the area of our head office, New City Primary School, Palm Avenue, Mushin, I noticed that some of the children were putting on torn uniforms and they came to school without writing materials.

“That is what inspired our Kit-a-child programme, where we are able to – at the beginning of every school year – provide writing materials such as exercise books, pencils, biros, erasers, sharpeners as well as school bags for the older primary school classes. That’s what we have come to do in Oduduwa Primary School and Papa Ajao Primary School. These three schools are within the vicinity of our head office and the area where we are located.”

She noted that the COVID-19 pandemic cost many parents their jobs, resulting in many of them being unable to afford their kids’ basic school needs when the new school term resumes.

“With the public schools, we find that a lot of these children do not have these things.
At Papa Ajao, we found out that only three children in a school of over 170 pupils came to school with writing materials. So, coming here today and giving them exercise books, comprising 40 leaves for the older children and 2A, 2B and 2D for the younger ones, has really brought joy for us at Cakasa.

“Our goal is to see a transformed society, we want to be able to help and save lives, ameliorate the challenges faced by the average man in communities like Mushin and Alimosho, etc.

“Even the students we are also supporting in Alimosho LGA – the 10 girls from different schools – we were able to provide not only writing materials, we also bought all the textbooks they need for this new school year and that’s one of the things we are doing in Alimosho LGA, to be able to help these parents. These girls are enjoying this scholarship up to the first university degree, so their programme is unique and different for Alimosho.

“For Mushin, we are doing the back-to-school project and we hope to be able to do more. Many schools need help and we are calling on other meaningful organisations, and kind-hearted Nigerians to also join us in this work so that we can reach more people. A lot more Nigerians need this help and intervention.”

The donation was witnessed by, among others, a representative of the Lagos State government-funded EkoExcel, Mrs. Azenabor Promise, who commended CEF and urged other organisations to partner with schools to lift indigent pupils.

Pupils of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos have been urged to be bold as they prepare for the future.

Delivering a lecture entitled: “Bracing up for the future”, guest lecturer, Prof. Olurotimi Coker of the Lagos State University College of Medicine (LASUCOM), advised them to develop meaningful relationships that would impact their career.

The lecture was to commemorate the school’s 25th anniversary.

Coker charged pupils to have vision and be brave to achieve their goals, advising them to take their health seriously.

“You need to brace up for the future. You must be bold, audacious, brave and unashamed. Do  not care  about what other people think about you. Deal with difficult situations by appearing to be confident rather than ashamed. You also need to take your health seriously; form  meaningful relationships with others anywhere you find ourselves,” he said.

Principal of the school, Dr Adebisi Layiwola, urged pupils to take advantage of  every opportunity that comes their way.  “It is exciting to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this great college. The school is synonymous with excellence in Nigeria and the world. To you pupils, take advantage of every opportunity that comes your way,” she said.

Chairman, Board of Governors of  the school, Dr. Taiwo Borisade,  thanked all stakeholders committed to taking the school to greater heights. He said the school would  continue to develop  talented individuals and emphasise  child protection.

The logo for the anniversary celebration was also unveiled amid music rendition by pupils. At  the lecture were Director of Finance and Administration Dr. Adewale Adeoye; Deputy Head of School Mr. Muraina Olusesi; and the Chaplain, Revd Faloye Olawole, among others.

The Teachers’ Continuous Training Institute (TCTI) Biase, Cross River State, has taken the lead in Nigeria by being the first public institution to be approved as a Certiport Authorised Testing Center (CATC) for the validation of over 1,000 skills with global/industry certifications.

The CATC Licence was presented to the Governor of Cross River State, Ben Ayade in Calabar, the state capital.

Director-General of the Institute, Prof. Taoheed Adedoja said the feat would enable the institute to compare with any 21st Century Smart Institute globally.

He said the institute would train 2,500 workforce on digital literacy.

Adedoja said: “TCTI, Biase, will  commence phase two of the conduct of baseline assessment to establish proficiency of Cross Riverians in digital literacy for 2,500 workforce comprising primary, secondary, technical and vocational teachers, youths, women , civil servants, and the private sector.”

He added that selected participants would undergo intensive 10  days training for employability.

Adedoja also said the institute was   positioned to offer services in any part of the country to interested organisations, public and private institutions in emerging digital skills development and teacher retraining.

Nigeria’s representative of Certiport and a leading Consultant on Digital Literacy and Emerging Skills Development, Dr Niran Oyekale, applauded the state government for its interest in teacher development.

He stressed the importance of providing the institute and the  people of the state and  with Certiport’s global platform for skills validation.

Ayade  promised to give TCTI the  needed  support in providing the needed digital literacy skill acquisition to teachers and other workforce in the country.

Vice Chancellor of the newly-established David Nweze Umahi University of Health Sciences, in Ebonyi State, Prof. Jesse Uneke, has lamented that Nigeria loses over $3.5 billion  dollars yearly to medical and educational tourism.

Uneke said the situation needed  to change as it was not good for the country’s economy.

He said: “Nigeria spends up to $2 billion  every year on medical tourism and also about 75 per cent of that on educational tourism. So imagine if we are having about $3.5 billion coming back into our economy, it will help a lot to boost our economy.

“That is why we have the state of the art teaching hospital which is part of the university. The hospital has the best of equipment you can think of and we are also having some of the best experts in various specialties at the teaching hospital.”

Uneke said the new university and its teaching hospital, which had the infrastructure and man power to produce the best health professionals for the country, was out to eradicate the situation.

He  said the university  was working on partnering with various universities in the United States of America on exchange programmes which would improve the institution’s quality of graduates.

On the ASUU strike, Uneke, who noted that the situation was complicated, expressed hope that the situation would be resolved soon in the interest of students who were idling away at home.

Feats Educational and Global Investment Ltd has received an award from Nigeria Youth Advocacy for Good Governance Initiative (NYAGGI) for its role in nation building and development.

The firm provides education consultancy services.

NYAGGI National Coordinator Akeem Alabi  said the Golden Role Model Award was in recognition of the firm’s contribution to youth empowerment.

FEATS Chief Executive Officer  Dr. Olayinka Ola dedicated the award to his mother, Mrs. Esther Ola who motivated him to establish the educational consult to remedy challenges faced by Nigerians aspiring to study abroad.

He said the firm had assisted many people to achieve their dream of studying abroad, adding that his motive was to provide access to international education.

“When we came into the business as an enterprise in 2008, people were scared of falling  victim of fraudsters, and this was one of the major challenges we faced then, but we changed the narratives.”

“Nigerians are one of the most talented in the world if given the right opportunity and environment to exhibit skills in them,” he said.

Kebbi Governor Abubakar Bagudu and the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) on Wednesday charged Federal and State Governments to scale up security in schools across the nation as the 2023 electioneering campaign begins.

They said adequate security in school becomes necessary to ensure a safe environment for effective teaching and learning during the campaign and election proper.

Speaking in Ibadan at the 7th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference of NUT with the theme: “Terrorism and attacks on schools: Effect on education and Nigeria’s economy”, the Governor warned that tragedy might befall the country if education, which according to him is the custodian of the nation’s future is disrupted owing to electioneering activities.

He said though insecurity has become more worrisome in some parts of the world, anybody who takes arms and takes law into his hands should be dealt with.

He however called for international outreach and a network of support to ensure adequate protection of the educational sector across the nation during and after the forthcoming general elections.

NUT National President, Com. Audu Amba lamented that insecurity has affected the effective delivery of education in Nigeria because the school system has suffered various attacks by terrorists and banditry, leading to displacement and death of some teachers and students.

He maintained that government and stakeholders must protect schools from terror and attacks, adding that they must protect schools, teachers and learners from attacks by terrorists and bandits.

Oyo NUT chairman, Com Raji Ismail appealed to Governor Seyi Makinde to approve the implementation of Act of National Assembly, which approved 65 years as retirement age and 40 years length of service for teachers in the state as assented by the President, saying this would assist the system to retain the best brains in the education sector.

Anambra Governor Chukwuma Soludo has commended Pharmercist Emeka Okafor for donating a five-classrom block with library at Community Primary School, Amawbia in Awka South Local Government Area.

Soludo gave the commendation while inaugurating the project which was built in memory of the benefactor’s father, Late Mr. Emmanuel Okafor.

Represented by Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, the Governor described the wonderful edifice as part of the initiatives he had adopted to take back dilapidated schools and raise them to smart institutions.

“We thank Pharmacist Okafor for answering our clarion call to the good spirited individuals of Anambra State and beyond to partner with the Government in areas of education, investment and infrastructural developments in the school,” he said.

The benefactor, who is a product of the school, explained that the gesture was his own way of giving back to the society that made him a great personality, promising to always keep the library up to date.

Read Also: Anambra under threat of erosion, says Soludo 

He charged the pupils to take their studies seriously, describing education is an antidote to mental and physical slavery and highly priced tool for individual and national development.

Responding, the school’s Headmistress, Lady Gloria Anedu expressed optimism that the project would contribute in no small measure to the upliftment and development of education.

She revealed that the school is known for academic excellence, saying over 30 pupils of the school scored over 300 in the just concluded 2021/2022 Common Entrance Examination and appreciated the governor’s giant strides in education.

“The gesture will keep and maintain the lofty standard Anambra State has recorded in education, since knowledge is a liberator from the shackles of ignorance,” she added.

The Transforming Education Summit (TES) spent three days addressing the depth and breadth of problems afflicting learning around the world.

Government leaders and educationists from across the world are convening in New York for the United Nations (UN) inaugural Transforming Education Summit. The summit is a response to the global learning crisis, and is focussed on identifying education transformation programmes proven to work at scale.

This learning crisis began long before the covid-19 pandemic and runs much deeper. The report card from the International Commission on the Future of Education puts it clearly; education systems don’t make the grade. They are failing students and societies. We will not end this crisis by simply doing more of the same, faster or better. Now is the time to transform education systems. According to the World Bank, 7 out of 10 children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries cannot read with comprehension by their tenth birthday. In other words, they are functionally illiterate, after decades of declarations and initiatives by the global education community to improve the quality of basic education. These attempts to “fix” the architecture have yet to demonstrate meaningful success: learning levels are persistently low, and positive deviants are hard to find.

President Muhammadu Buhari addressed the “Transforming Education Summit “, during which he proclaimed Nigeria as a champion country and committed to greater inclusiveness and innovation for education in the country. Nigeria has a lot to contribute to other global leaders, funders, policymakers and political leaders focus on identifying solutions that are already being implemented at scale by national Governments and are proven to improve learning outcomes.

Read Also: KwaraLEARN, a classroom revolution, by Gov AbdulRazaq

The latest large scale education transformation project that should qualify Nigeria as a “Champion Country” in President Buhari’s words is KwaraLEARN (Leading Education Achievement and Reform Now), a core new education programme by the Government of Kwara State to deliver dramatic improvements in learning outcomes in public schools for all children across Kwara State.

KwaraLEARN is transforming government primary schools across the state into powerful public schools using innovative technology and data-driven platform, coupled with high-quality learning materials, effective training and ongoing coaching for teachers and school leaders, and technology-enabled support teams to create 360-degree support for learning outcomes.

His Excellency, the executive governor of Kwara State, Mal. AbdulRahman AbdulRasaq who was also present at the UNGA in New York as part of President Buhari’s entourage said “getting education right from the foundation would support the state government’s achievements in infrastructural development, agriculture, technology and social services, as well as open up new vistas of opportunities that will promote common good”.

It is important to note that the methodology implemented in KwaraLEARN was studied by a group led by Professor Michael Kremer, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, in a different school system to measure impact over a 2 year period. Professor Kremer’s study found that “The effects in this study are among the largest in the international education literature, particularly for a program that was already operating at scale”.

Primary students taught using this methodology learnt as much in two years as their counterparts in other schools learnt in three.

KwaraLEARN takes the baton from pre-existing transformation programmes in Lagos and Edo states, both of which are local solutions already delivering value.

At the conclusion of the Transformational Education Summit, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was clear. Now is the time to transform the entire public education system. Trailblazing political leaders across the world such as Kwara State are showing how it can be done, using proven learning methods. If the world is going to come close to achieving the goals of the Transforming Education Summit, others must follow their example.

Nigeria must push at federal level for policy, budget and implementation to enable large scale transformative education projects such as KwaraLEARN which is already creating value and alleviating learning poverty in the country.

Kayode Owoperu writes from Lagos.

Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc (FMN) has collaborated with the George Coumantaros Foundation to award deserving Nigerians post-graduate scholarships worth over N33 million (€46,800).

The presentation, which was held at the Group’s head office, Lagos, had some of the Group’s management in attendance.

The FMN-George Coumantaros Foundation Scholarship scheme is a post-graduate scholarship programme in conjunction with the American Farm School (AFS) and Perrotis College in Greece.
The programme is designed to afford deserving Nigerians an opportunity to broaden their horizon and acquire relevant skills and knowledge that can be further reinvested within the Nigerian economy.
The two successful candidates are Edegbo Simon Ojonugwa, a graduate of Agriculture from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria graduating and Ezeonu Alfred Chukwubuikem, a graduate of Food Engineering from the University of Uyo.
Based on the awardee’s courses of choice, Simon Edegbo will be studying for MSc. In Sustainable Agriculture and Management while Alfred Ezeonu will be studying for an MSc In New Food Product and Business Development at the American Farm School, in Greece.

Read Also: FMN gifts loyalty reward to dealers, others

Speaking on the credibility of the candidates’ selection process, FMN’s Director, Group Strategy and Stakeholder Relations, Mr. Sadiq Usman said: “When we feed the Nation, everyday, our impact goes beyond food processing and provision for Nigerians as we also feed possibilities and growth through our CSR and sustainability projects like the FMN – George Coumantaros Foundation Scholarship Program. Through this program, we are looking at creating an avenue where Nigerians would acquire knowledge and skills in line with socio-economic demands.

“More so, to ensure that the scholarship program is afforded to most deserving Nigerian students, we ensured that the selection process is transparent and seamless, from the computer-based tests to live interviews with subject matter experts from the American Farm School and Perrotis College, the process was handled with utmost professionalism. Over 900 competitive applications were received but on the long run, the chosen two were able to meet most of the eligibility tests thus their qualification. As a Group, FMN will continue to invest in human capital development to ensure that we all can attain our envisaged future as a Nation”.

Also commenting on the expectations from the awardees and the foundation, the Program Director, George Coumantaros Foundation, Kyriakos Kyriakopoulos said: “With this scholarship program, we have set in motion, a transformative process that would allow young Nigerians to adopt growth-driven strategies from various faculties of knowledge and be able to translate this knowledge into meaningful growth in Nigeria. We believe and hope that the selected candidates would put in their best to ensure that they maximize this opportunity given to them and as always, we would be there to provide the needed support across their various touchpoints. Their success is our mandate.”

President Muhammadu Buhari has told stakeholders in the education sector at the just concluded United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 77) he was worried about the low adoption of digital learning in Nigeria.

The President said his government would reach all learners wherever they are with quality, inclusive learning and skills development opportunities.

At thematic session four tagged ‘Digital transformation of Education,” the President admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed the adoption of digital learning options across Nigeria and that going forward, his administration would further promote this with the National Digital Learning Policy as a guide.

“The National Digital Learning Policy focuses on the long-term vision of inclusive digital transformation by increasing public provisioning for digital learning”. President Buhari said

Speaking to the concerned stakeholders, the President stated that he was worried about the low adoption of digital learning in the country because apart from private schools and states like Lagos and Edo working with international ed-tech platforms, public schools have been slow in adopting it, despite the benefits.

“Traditional methods of using blackboards and making teachers the focus remain the prevalent learning methods across large swathes of the country” Buhari said.

“Add the dilapidated structures to the mix, and the emergent picture of teaching/learning is ugly. However, empirical studies have highlighted the importance and benefits of digital learning; hence President Buhari’s declaration at UNGA 77 merely trumpets what the concerned stakeholders had been crying about. Unlike the traditional method of using blackboards and the classroom setting being teacher-centred, digital, as the name implies, means the use of digital boards; it is student-centred and encourages the use of computers, mobile devices and social media for learning”.

He further said social media has become an essential element of the e-learning experience and Digital learning has been shown to, among others, create a more dynamic environment by turning traditionally dull subjects into interactive and fun activities, incorporating different learning styles to benefit all the students, improving collaboration, connecting students better and preparing children for the future.

Read also: Buhari returns to Abuja after UNGA77

“Besides, which child would prefer carrying a stack of notebooks and textbooks instead of a light iPad or device? Or who would want a weighty text instead of surfing an e-book? In a scholarly article entitled ‘Understanding the role of digital technologies in education: A review’, the quartet of Abid Haleem, Mohd Javaid, Mohd Asim Qadri and Rajiv Suman further highlighted the need for digital technologies in education,” Buhari said

Buhari said the Lagos State Government had been proactive in Preparing pupils for a digital future by introducing technology to them at an early age and meeting the United Nations’ sustainable development 2030 agenda on quality education which made Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to inaugurate EKOEXCEL, an educational intervention to transform Lagos public primary schools through technology deployment in 2009.

The initiative he said: “was most helpful in Lagos State during the COVID-19 era, helping prepare pupils in terminal classes for their final examination while keeping others fresh. Commendably, the impacts have been felt among pupils and teachers, with empirical studies affirming the gains. Some EKOEXCEL teachers, including Fausat Adegeye, have also taken to social media to assist their pupils.Interestingly, the Edo State Government under Governor Obaseki had seen the benefits and adopted the same a year before Lagos did with EDOBEST, still with NewGlobe. This ed-tech platform supports visionary governments by creating robust technology-enabled education systems as the technical partner”.