Category: Education

Public school pupils may feel their luck is hard given their less privileged backgrounds but executives of  real estate firm, WIP Africa, have urged them not to give up.

The executives spoke when they visited select schools to donate learning materials and encourage pupils in commemoration of the firm’s 10th anniversary.

About 100 pupils of Immaculate Heart Senior High School, and Mende Senior High School, both in Maryland Lagos, benefited from the initiative, which had as theme: “There is no potential in any student that is not in every student.”

Present at the ceremony were the co-founders of WIP Africa, Mr. Tade Cash and Mr. Oluwasanmi Aina, and Head of Operations, Mrs. Olayinka Ilori, who took turns to encourage the pupils to always believe in themselves and give their best.

The pupils were told that there were possibilities of greatness within them despite their circumstances.

Tade Cash shared how he was raised in a one room apartment with his parents and six siblings, hawked bread before school each day, yet has come out tops in his endeavours – making his first million dollars at the age of 28 through real estate.

The motivational talk was followed by an interactive session during which the pupils asked questions and shared what they learnt.

The participating pupils from both schools got bags and stationeries.

Representatives of the schools present at the occasion were: Mrs. Olayinka Oluwaleye, Principal, Immaculate Heart Senior School; and Mr. Solarin, Principal, Mende Senior High School.

Caption: Participants with the WIP Africa team.

 

Kwara Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on Wednesday announced that his administration has approved N50m for accreditation of old and new courses at Kwara State Polytechnic to keep the institution’s programmes up-to-date.

Speaking in Ilorin, the state capital, at the recent convocation ceremony of the 50-year-old institution, the Governor said its own in-campus radio station — approved and funded by the administration — will go live by December 15, 2021.

“Recently, we approved N50m for accreditation of old and new courses at this great citadel of learning. This should have been done many years ago.

“I am also proud to announce to you that Kwara Poly Radio, which our administration started, will go live on December 15, 2021,” the Governor said.

“This will ultimately lead to accreditation for our own Kwara Poly to run Mass Communication Course at HND level.

“We remain committed to the goals of our founding fathers in ensuring quality education for Kwara people. This is true of basic education, in which we have sunk billions of naira over the past two years, as it is of tertiary education,” he added.

The 10 courses that are up for accreditation and resource inspection are: National Diploma (ND) Agricultural Technology; ND Quantity Surveying; Higher National Diploma (HND) Quantity Surveying; ND Estate Management and Valuation; ND Statistics; ND Public Administration; ND Procurement and Supply Chain Management; ND Food Technology; ND Nutrition and Dietetics; and HND Mass Communication.

AbdulRazaq urged the Polytechnic to do more in the areas of deepening a culture of inquiry, technological innovation, and enterprise.

“It is through such endeavours that the purpose of technical education for which Polytechnics have been established would be fully attained. You have started well. You can do a lot more.

“You can count on our support as resources permit,” the Governor said, recalling the recent strides of the administration in the school.

“We have also recently completed and commissioned the Multipurpose Hall which was abandoned for 20 years. That giant edifice has now been named in honour of the great man who started the good work, His Excellency Governor Muhammed Alabi Lawal of blessed memory.

“He deserves all the recognition for his patriotism and efforts to develop Kwara State in line with the vision of the founding fathers of the state.”

AbdulRazaq assured the Polytechnic community that the institution will soon witness more infrastructural development as the state finances improve.

Engr. Yaru Salihu, the Chairman Governing Council of the polytechnic, said the institution is witnessing an articulate legacy of excellence within a short period of this administration.

Rector of the Kwara State Polytechnic Dr Abdul Jimoh Muhammed, acknowledged the numerous developmental strides recorded by this administration in the total transformation of the State

He added: “We are convinced that the popular choice of the people was not misplaced.

“Part of the activities was commissioning and unveiling the renovated student’s hostels and the institution‘s water factory by the visitor, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq.”

Information and Communications Technology Company, Vatebra Limited in partnership with the West African Examinations Council, Nigeria have once again given out awards to best performing schools and candidates in the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for the 2020 academic year.

The WAEC/VATEBRA Merit Awards, which took place in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria is part of a range of Corporate Social Responsibility projects aimed at giving back to the public, particularly in the academic domain. The awards were presented to the various winners at the formal opening ceremony of the 59th annual meeting of the Nigeria National Committee (NNC) held at the Daylan Event Center Ibadan on the 18th of November 2021.

The awards instituted and presented this year are based on the following categories; the best public secondary school in sciences: (CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY and PHYSICS) in Nigeria; the overall best public secondary school in all subjects in Nigeria: the best overall female candidate in public secondary schools in all subjects in Nigeria and lastly, the best overall male candidate in public secondary Schools in all subjects in Nigeria.

Winners of this year’s awards were presented with various cash prizes. Ayebode High School, Ayebode, Ekiti State awarded WINNER of the WAEC/VATEBRA Merit Award for best public Secondary School in Sciences: (CHEMISTRY, BIOLOGY and PHYSICS) in Nigeria was presented with a cash prize of 1.5 million Naira. Community Secondary School,. Abajah, Owerri. Imo State awarded WINNER of the WAEC/VATEBRA Merit Award for Overall Best Public Secondary School in all subjects in Nigeria got prize money of 2.5 million Naira.

Furthermore, Okorie Devinefavour Nkechinyere of the Federal College of Education Technical Secondary School, Akoka, Lagos State was awarded winner of the WAEC/VATEBRA Merit Award for Best Overall Female Candidate in Public Secondary Schools in All Subjects and presented with the prize money of 500, 000 Naira while Adeosun Idris Ayotunde of Airforce Comprehensive School, Iyana Offa, Oyo State was awarded winner of the WAEC/VATEBRA Merit Award for Best Overall male candidate in Public Secondary School in all subjects and also got a prize money of 500, 000 Naira.

Speaking on the awards at the event, the Head, Educational Bodies at Vatebra Limited, Oluwole Aduloju posited that “one major criterion to be met by winners of the WAEC/VATEBRA merit award is to be outstanding and be without blemish knowing that this driving principle also transcends from one of our organizational core value of Excellence”.

On the other hand, the Head of National Office, West African Examinations Council, Mr. Patrick Areghan, in his remarks gave a brief background of the awards and the milestones achieved by the foremost Examinations body in recent years. The event was well attended by dignitaries including and the Honorable Commissioner for Basic Education in Oyo State, Barrister Rahman Abiodun Abdu-Raheem and other delegates from the Oyo State government.

It is noteworthy that Vatebra Limited had backed the WAEC/VATEBRA Merit Award since 2019 where it awarded similar prizes to Okpuje Secondary School, Owan West, Edo State, Airforce Comprehensive School, Iyana Offa, Oyo State, Ugbala Uchenna Ezekiel of Command Day Secondary School, Enugu and Amah Nmesoma Faith of Girls Secondary School Akwakuma, Imo State respectively.

Vatebra Limited is an ICT company in Africa with competency in the delivery of cutting-edge Software Solutions in the Private and Public Sectors. Vatebra was established in 2003 as Fleet Technologies Limited, but rebranded in 2016 as Vatebra Limited. The Company was established to bridge the gap in the provision of competent and dependable Software Solutions. With this engagement, WAEC and Vatebra Limited re-emphasize their culture of giving back to the society.

Lagos Deputy Speaker Wasiu Eshinlokun-Sanni has distributed GCE forms to intending candidates across the three secondary schools in the council.

Eshinlokun-Sanni represents Lagos Island I.

The presentation was done on his behalf by Abiodun Iyun, Chairman of the Wasiu Eshilokun-Sanni Education Committee.

He urged the beneficiaries to see the gesture as a rare opportunity and take their studies serious.

Iyun told the beneficiaries that the lawmaker has been building the capacity of future leaders with continuous educational support and urged them to be committed to their academics so that they would excel.

He hinted that beneficiaries also stand a chance of benefitting from the lawmaker’s scholarship programme for students in tertiary schools.

“Our lawmaker is passionate about education. He has been supporting indigent students with GCE forms, Jamb forms and others in the council even since his time as chairman of the council. He gave two school buses convening 250 pupils to and fro school daily,” he said.

Miss Olabisi Dasilva, who spoke for the beneficiaries, thanked the lawmaker for the gesture.

She said most pupils in the council have been enjoying Eshinlokun-Sanni’s benevolence since his time as the council chairman.

Master Akintan Hamzat prayed for Allah’s guidance and protection for the lawmaker in his future endeavours.

Federal Government College, Ogbomoso Old Students Association (FEGOCOOSA) has intensified efforts to build an e-learning centre N100 million for its alma mater.

Apart from boosting learning, the facility would also  enable  pupils  to write the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in the school.

This was made known by the  President of FEGOCOOSA, Mr. Abidemi Oni, at a briefing to announce activities lined up for its forthcoming end of the year celebration, themed:” Building bridges.”

” This is the ongoing project of the association. It would cost N100m. The centre would come with world class facilities to aid learning. Our pupils would also have the opportunity to write their Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) in the school instead of travelling long distance,” he said.

Similarly,Board of Trustees Chairman of the association, Don Edozien stressed the need  for pupils to be technology-compliant for them to able to compete with their peers from other schools.

He noted that the association had done many projects to reposition their alma mater.

“We have renovated classrooms, built dining halls,among other things,” he said.

On the end-of-the year celebrations, Oni said this year’s event would hold for three days, starting with sports on November 27; then a virtual career symposium follows the next day (November 28), while the grand finale would take place on  December 4.

He also said prizes would be given to best students of the school  to encourage them.

Chairman of this year’s  celebration, Mr. Temitope Ashiwaju, underscored the importance of old students associations to schools, noting that they  ease pressure on the government.

 

The Corona Secondary School (CSS), Agbara, Ogun State has held its Speech and Prize-giving Day. It was a unique event because, not only were outstanding students rewarded, teachers and non-teaching staff members were also honoured. CHINAKA OKORO reports.

Stand Up! Stand Out for Excellence–No One Left Behind” as the theme of this year’s Speech and Prize-giving Day of Corona Secondary School, Agbara Ogun State, was apt. As if the pupils heeded the  advice,   Tobechukwu Okolo, Adekunfola Olowodola, and Kaido Obikili, among other students, worked so hard in their academic pursuit to emerge the first, second and third overall best students of Year Seven, respectively, with a rating of 92.92 per cent, 92.72 per cent, and 89.70 per cent.

Similarly, Abdullah Sule, Peace Odunuga and Gbemisola Marquis emerged as the first, second, and third overall best students of Year 8, with a percentage rating of 89.13 per cent, 88.13 per cent, and 87.28 per cent.

In external examination awards (Cambridge Checkpoint) 2020/2021 Academic Year Oyintariere Akika, Munachiso Onyekwere, and Abiodun Marquis in Year Nine emerged the first, second, and third overall best students with average grades of 5.8, 5.5, and 5.4.

This is just as the trio, alongside Oluwamurewa Fadare, Chisom Ike, Mofesola Olusola-Falodun, Blessing Obed, Roqeebat Koleosho, and Ifeoluwa Demechi, were recognised for having a perfect score of six, in the Cambridge Checkpoint examination. The Folashade Adefisayo cash award for the best student in Checkpoint went to Oyintariere Akika.

Also, Oyindoubra Akika, Ogechukwu Alloh, and Mardiat-Iman Ibrahim-Iman were rated as the first, second and third overall best students in Year 10, with their overall percentage ratings put at 94.85 per cent, 89.36 per cent and 89.30 per cent.

For Year 11, Somtochukwu Ike, Toluwanimi Sonuga, and George Nnona emerged as the first, second and third overall best, with a percentage difference of 89.79 per cent, 85.66 per cent, and 85.51 per cent respectively.

They were rewarded during the school’s prize-giving day for their hard work and dedication because they decided to stand up and stand out for excellence, and never wanted to be left behind.

The Corona Secondary School Speech and Prize-giving Day were held at the school’s premises in Agbara Estate, Ogun State. That day, the school recognised and appreciated the brilliant efforts of its students in academics and extra-curricular activities, in internal and external examinations.

It was also a day set aside by the school to appreciate and encourage well-behaved students and members of academic staff for their immeasurable efforts, dedication and contributions to the success of the academic session of the school.

After being stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 after the 2019 edition held in November, this year’s event was held on November 14.

The school did not only reward its students in academics and behaviours but also its teaching, pastoral, administrative, kitchen, security, gardener, maintenance and medical members of staff, among others.

The school’s headteacher, Mrs. Chinedum Oluwadamilola noted that the event was set aside to celebrate academic excellence, and also extra-curricular activities, as there is a star in every child.

She said: “As the theme for this year is “Stand Up! Stand Out for Excellence–No One Left Behind,” today we will be celebrating the successes of our students and members of staff, with no one left behind in all that happened in the 2020/2021 academic session. Every Corona School child is worth celebrating.”

The event, which was attended by the Ogun State Deputy Governor, Mrs Noimot Salako-Oyedele, was  attended by the alumni of the school, including the Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, who isn’t only an alumna, but has also worked in the school at various capacities and retired as Director in 2014 before working for the Lagos State Government.

The keynote speaker, Oyinda Egbeyemi, also an alumna, took the students and guests through her sojourn as a student of the school, and how she was able to pull through every obstacle she encountered.

She said it was necessary for students to believe in themselves, have a good support system, take on challenges on the standard of excellence, develop a sense of excellence, and have a mindset of strength.

She said: “In life, there will always be challenges. There will always be obstacles, and whenever you overcome one, there is another waiting at the next door. But it is important that you go through the next door with a sense of excellence, and a mindset of strength because you will need to overcome these things.

“It is also very important to take on challenges, take the bull by the horn and make sure you stand up for excellence. To excel is a great thing and something everyone must yearn to attain.”

Another alumna of the school, Nofisat Haliru, a lawyer, said the secondary school, especially when in a boarding school, was the perfect time for self-discovery for any student.

 

Lagos State Education Commissioner, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo has said the ministry of education would help children in the viral Makoko video who held assembly in murky waters settle in public schools.

Speaking recently on the sidelines of awards to outstanding pupils who represented Lagos in competitions, Mrs. Adefisayo said the children would be supported by the Project Zero initiative of the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) should they need support to attend school.

Project Zero seeks to provide less privileged children with all the materials they need to attend school to check out-of-school children syndrome. It was launched in the wake of post-COVID school resumptions to ensure that all pupils of school age returned to school.

She also said the local council in the area would support their transportation to and from school.

She  said: “We are going there to register them. We have six schools in the vicinity we can send them to.

“In SUBEB we have a project called Project Zero, which means we have zero tolerance for children out of school. And Project Zero has support for children like that. We will certainly support them in every way so that they can settle where necessary. It is an unusual circumstance and we will treat it as such.

“The local government is willing to support their trip to and fro school.

“Contrary to the impression in the video that the children were attending a low-cost primary school in the community built on stilts over the Lagos Lagoon, Mrs. Adefisayo said the ministry found that an orphanage in the area shot the video to raise funds and evoke compassion, without thinking deeply about the implications.

“I think it is something that they did without thinking deeply about its ramifications and its effect. I just wonder how they could put the children in that water. I went through the water myself. Honestly, I have hardly seen anything like that before. I can imagine the diseases that could arise from deliberately putting them in the water because the teachers themselves were not in water if you watched the video properly. I hope they searched their conscience and they are sorry about what they did. But certainly the place will not exist as a school anymore,” she said.

She said the ministry’s engagement with members of the community revealed that the older children attend public schools on land while the younger children stayed within the community because parents were reluctant to allow them attend school far from home.

 

The Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy, Enugu (FEDCODTTEN) has become the first institution in West Africa to lead its students to write professional Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria (NMCN) Examination on Dental Nursing.

This was disclosed in a statement by the institution’s Public Relations Officer Omololu Ogunmade.

The professional examination, which is a precursor to obtaining practising licences by prospective dental nurses from NMCN, followed the earlier conduct of pre-council examination written by the students last month

NMCN, which conducted the two examinations in the school, registers and gives licences  to qualified nurses to practise in various hospitals across Nigeria.

Leading the council team to conduct the examination, Mr. Timbuak Yamai hailed the college authority for the uncommon feat, saying efforts of the authority to produce dental nurses who meet the standards for professional practice both within and outside Nigeria are praiseworthy.

Yamai noted that the examination was the first of its kind in Nigeria and the entire West Africa, noting that the team was in the college to conduct the NMCN examination.

“The importance of the examination is that it is a national examination that qualifies one to be a nurse and practise anywhere in Nigeria,” he said.

Yamai described the pre-council examination as a prerequisite for NMCN to establish that participants were qualified for the final examination.

Yamai said: “Qualification from the pre-council examination depends on what the ex        aminers were able to establish; if all of them pass, fine; if some fail, that means those ones will not be presented. There is a possibility that all of them will pass and there is a possibility that some of them will fail but the essence is to establish that all of them are fit to sit for the professional examination.

“If someone fails the examination, he or she has the opportunity of a second attempt and after that, if the person is not successful, let us assume, the person will have a third attempt at the examination.”

Head of Dental Nursing Department, Dr. Ismail Mohammed, said  the examination was the first of its kind in  West Africa.

According to him, the college achieved the feat, being the first institution to start the training of dental nurses in West Africa, whose practice, he said, would be regulated by Nursing and Mid-wifery Council in any country they choose to practise.

He also lauded the Rector Dr. John Emaimo for the feat and  his efforts towards taking the institution to enviable heights.

Lagos State Education Commissioner Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo and the Vice Chancellor, Wellspring University, Benin, Prof. Isaac Ajayi, have advised tertiary institutions to adopt experiential learning and skill-based education to help students develop  skills needed to thrive in today’s society.

They made the  call last weekend at an education stakeholders’ meeting tagged “An evening with the Chancellor” organised by Wellspring University.

Speaking on the future of education, Mrs. Adefisayo said it was necessary that teaching and learning be done in collaboration with the industry.

She said: “I think we have to go beyond lecture, we have to focus on skills and that is why I am happy you (Wellspring University) are talking about innovation and so on. But it goes way beyond just the curriculum, changing the content, changing what you are teaching.”

It includes things like a collaboration between town and gown; giving student opportunities to work with companies, to intern with companies, to have role models who come from town to talk to students in the university to. So, it needs a lot of collaboration. It needs a focus on our instructional methods.

“I think we are too exam-focused; exams rarely tell a story. I have seen students who are specialists in passing exams.

To groom graduates that can fit into the society dynamics, the Commissioner said  learning should be experiential and integrated with technology.

“We have got to make learning experiential and  integrated with technology because the graduates that we need must have those 21st century skills.

The future of education is experiential; the future of education must be skill-based; the future of education must speak to the community. We cannot churn out graduates who cannot influence the community,” she said.

Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ajayi said the event tagged:  ‘The future of education- driving education through innovation’, was put together due to concerns about the state of education in Nigeria.

“What we are operating now is not producing the desired effect. There is so much poverty and unemployment in town, so many ills in our society, yet we are producing graduates. But they graduates are not addressing any of these ills.

This is what called for this dinner for stakeholders to come and review the future of the education,” he said.

On how Wellspring University is addressing such challenges, Rotimi said: “The entire curricula that we are using needs to be addressed. That is what we are doing in WellSpring University; we are making our curriculum skill-based; we are emphasising that students must have practical exposure; students must have certification in Information and  Communication Technology (ICT) and entrepreneurial training.

“We deliver in such a way that you have some skills that you must acquire, and these skills will be useful to you when you graduate with or without a job,” he said.

Stakeholders in attendance included the Chairman, Tertiary Education Trust Fund, Alhaji Kasim Ibrahim-Imam; former Anambra State governor Peter Obi  and the Chancellor Wellspring, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, among others.

Caleb University has renewed the appointment of its Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC), Prof Adedeji Samuel Daramola, for a second term.

The institution has also appointed Prof. Olalekan Usiobaifo Asikhia, as the new Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research, Innovation, Strategy and Administration (DVC, RISA)

Daramola, who retains his position as the DVC (Academics), is a recipient of the World Bank Study Fellowship for a multidisciplinary doctoral research at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, and the first Professor of Architecture with specialisation in Nomadic Housing  in the world.

Read Also: Caleb varsity graduates 1,158

Asikhia has two doctorates and Masters.The Professor of Management, Marketing and Entrepreneurship moved to Caleb from the Department of Business Administration and Marketing, School of Management, Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Ogun State, where he was  Head of Department and Acting Dean.

The Vice-Chancellor,  Prof. Nosa Owens-Ibie,  described Asikhia’s appointment as a recognition of his professional and academic track record.

On Daramola’s second tenure, the VC said it was to  appreciate his contributions in the first two years as DVC.