A Non Governmental Organization, Global Health and Indigent Care Foundation (CHICF) has rewarded outstanding students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in Ayetoro Gbede in Ijumu Local Government Area of Kogi State.
The Foundation also offset the school fees arrears of about 318 Students in Secondary Schools across the Community under its Education Support Programme as part of intervention for less privileged and vulnerable students that are already out of school.
The Benefitting Schools are; Ayetoro Gbede Community Secondary School, Government Secondary, Universal Basic Education Schools one and two, all in Ayetoro Gbede.
Cross Section of Beneficiaries
Speaking at the ceremony held at Ayetoro Gbede Town Hall, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation, Dr. Samuel Oloyo said the move was as a result of his believe in the instrumentality of education as a tool for national growth and development.
Represented by Secretary of the Scholarship and Educational Support Programme Committee, Prince Richard Akanmode, the Chairman and CEO noted that “the importance of education cannot be overemphasized. It opens up a horizon that you could never phantom Good education levels the playing field. In short, it is the equalizer.
Dr. Oloyo, who went down memory lane on his academic pursuit, explained that the Foundation has identified the need to assist in the area of education mostly in impoverished communities, hence the gesture.
According to him, a part from the annual free medical interventions of the Foundation, the Scholarship and Educational Assistance Programme was established to bring out of school children back to school.
In his words “the programme is designed to identify serious and talented students who may have financial challenges and assist them in meeting such challenges, thereby preventing interruption in their educational training.”
He stated that plans are underway to reward talented and gifted students particularly in the STEM curriculum as well as promotion of healthy competitions amongst students with various forms of incentives for winners.
He further said that soon, “plans are also underway to assist qualifying candidates when necessary with payments of standardized examinations fees such as WAEC, JAMB or NECO fees.”
He added that the programme will also be extended to Indigent Students in tertiary institutions, saying the sustainability of the Educational Assistance Programme is based on the cooperation of beneficiaries by studying hard to be successful.
In his remarks, Chairman of the Scholarship and Educational Support Programme Committee, Mr. Richard Olonishuwa stated that the rationale behind the Educational Assistance was to return school dropouts back to the class.
Mr. Olonishuwa disclosed that “the programme is therefore a continuation of the foundation’s laudable Scholarship and Education Assistance (SEAP) intervention programme to assist indigent students to remain in school by offsetting the arrears of school fees up to 1″ Term of 2022/23 academic session for 318 students totaling N2,287,800.00 and recognizing 39 academic excellences in STEM and Use of English subjects with the sum of N318,000.00 awards in the following 4 public secondary schools in Ayetoro Gbede.”
“The donors have decided to pay all the arrears of their school fees to ensure that they are back to school. My encouragement to them is to put in a lot of work, by studying hard so that in future, we can produce a lot of lawyers, Engineers, Doctors and other professionals in future. The can look back and say but for this intervention, my educational pursuit in life would jave been truncated.
He encouraged the students to justify the gesture by working hard in achieving their academic pursuit in the nearest future.
“This is an encouragement and motivation to the parents to ensure that come what may, the education of their wards should be uppermost in their mind and what ever sacrifice they need to make to ensure that this children remain in school to study, they should do it.
Parents of the Students as well as their Teachers, who could not hold their joy, prayed God to reward the Donors and the Foundation to enable them do more in view of the hardship in the country.
