While some candidates are in jubilation for scoring 200+ in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), Ozougwu, a girl identified only by her surname has been weeping sour since getting to know she scored 289.
Alex Onyia, the chief executive officer at Educare, a leading software firm disclosed this on his official X handle @winexviv, sharing the success story of his team’s investment in education at Mgbowo, in Awgu Local Government Area of Enugu State which has spurred the youngsters to contend for academic excellence.
“This youngster from my village just shared her JAMB result with me this morning and has been in tears. She scored 289 and believed she did so poorly.
“She was determined to score above 300 to access the full scholarship offer. I’m happy she did well but she has been crying since morning uncontrollably. I don’t even know what to do,” Onyia tweets.
“I have been talking to her. She keeps crying and echoing that she deserves more. I will share more details regarding the scholarship in the coming days. Thanks for your interest in supporting her education,” he added in response to an inquiry on her to motivate the youngster and possibly extend a scholarship to her.
Ozougwu’s 2024 UTME scores are as follows; English Language 57, Physics 87, Biology 68, and Chemistry 77; a total of 289 aggregate.
However, this score did not qualify her for the community’s scholarship which demands a score of 300 over 400 in the tertiary institutions’ entrance examination.
Other excellent results recorded
Similarly, Aneke, Kasiemobi, a boy who left secondary school two years ago, did not see any need to write UTME because he had no one to fund his education. As a result, he went into plumbing and abandoned formal education.
However, it took Onyia and his team a lot of convincing to get him to join the JAMB preparatory programme in the Mgbowo community.
Though, he did not make the 300 benchmarks for the scholarship, Aneke with registration number 20244067447BA scored 288; English Language 53, Physics 83, Biology 74, and Chemistry 78.
“I just got sent this result and it gladdens my heart. This boy’s result is so special to me. He left school two years ago and didn’t see any need to write JAMB because no one could fund his education.
“I’m so happy he did well and we will ensure he gets into school. I’m really happy and proud of him. There is genius hidden everywhere,” he tweets.
Another inspiring story is that of Emmanuel, the Chemistry teacher to the youngsters, who deferred his admission to FUTO to join the youngsters in the village so he could get the scholarship.
According to Onyia’s report, he was teaching the students chemistry while preparing for the same JAMB examination.
“He eventually scores 306 and has now been shortlisted for the full scholarship. I also noticed that the majority of the youngsters did well in Chemistry,” he noted.
Onyia has been celebrating the success of his investment in education disclosing how his team started a project in 2023 to address mass failure in UTME among youngsters in his community.
“Last JAMB was a disaster for my village youngsters. Over 70 per cent of them failed UTME, and the rest sparely passed. Rather than waiting for the government, we decided to take a different approach.
“We took the challenge upon ourselves for it not to repeat itself. Every youngster in my village right now is on an intensive morning and evening drilling for next year’s JAMB, and they undertake Computer-Based Test (CBT) once monthly with a large pool of 16 years past questions across different subjects,” he said.
To achieve the expected goal, he explained that in the CBT classes, they tracked the students’ performances on different topics and emphasised their weaknesses across different subject topics.
