Out-of-school children projects raise hope as focus shifts to underserved communities

Hope is on the rise for out-of-school children as projects embarked upon by concerned institutions towards addressing that problem are now focused on some communities that are underserved.

On incremental basis, the number of out-of-school children is growing and so are institutions initiating projects and deepening their commitment to reducing the number and ultimately ending the growth and spread of what has become a social malaise.

One of the various bodies and institutions that have shown concerns in this malaise and have gone ahead to find solutions is Corona Schools Trust Fund says it will continue to deepen its commitment to reducing the number of these children, especially in underserved communities.

The school recently completed the third cohort of its initiative on this problem by enrolling additional 25 children to school at Adeife Sodipo-Akindeko Memorial Primary School, Bariga, Lagos, making it a total of 75 children under Corona’s sponsorship in the school.

According to authorities of the school, this initiative has enabled them to offer support by way of rehabilitating physical infrastructure or equipping the teachers in the selected school with new knowledge necessary for grooming future generations.

Adeyoyin Adesina, the CEO of Corona Schools, said the aim of the initiative was to extend quality education beyond Corona children, knowing that a lot of children have the capacity but are limited by funding barriers.

“Each of our schools has a community school they have adopted. We are not unaware of the statistics showing the number of out-of-school children. When you go out, you see children loitering in the street and you wonder why they are not in school,” Adesina said.

“Each of our schools has a community school they have adopted. We are not unaware of the statistics showing the number of out-of-school children. When you go out, you see children loitering in the street and you wonder why they are not in school,” Adesina said.

She disclosed that this initiative will spread across each of the educational districts in Lagos, providing access to quality education, bringing children to school and extending same to underserved communities.

Amusat Teesleem, a representative of SUBEB, stressed the alarming rate of out-of-school children and the board’s commitment to continue to support Corona and other initiatives centered on reducing the rate.

“Out-of-school children challenge is a worldwide phenomenon and recent UNICEF figures show that we have over 20 million in Nigeria and we have more than 2 million in Lagos because people come in from various parts of the country every day.

“We have a programme we call project-zero, meaning zero tolerance for out-of-school children. So, we are happy that Corona, a group of schools, through their Trust Fund, is supporting the initiative of the board which is to leave no child behind,” Teesleem said.

He applauded Corona Trust Fund for the initiative, explaining the positivity of a private institution supporting public schools despite being in business for profit.

Also, he urged parents, teachers and stakeholders to prioritize education at all cost, saying that, “the children we fail to train today may not allow the ones we train to enjoy their life tomorrow.”

Arugbe Florence, headmistress, Adeife Sodipo-Akindeko Memorial Primary School Bariga, applauded the initiative of Corona for pulling children from the street and enrolling them into the school for a brighter future.

“I am not up to four months in the school but with my little stay here, I have seen the massive contribution of Corona towards the development of the school and extending in both classroom and outdoor development which also motivates and stimulates interest in teaching and learning.

“They have also contributed to the population of the school as we keep enrolling more people from them. I am happy with how they have shown commitment to the development of this school,” the headmistress said.

She urged other private sector operators that have the capacity to also emulate Corona in seeing to the reduction in out-of-school children in the country.

Meanwhile, the CEO who also disclosed that Corona is set to mark its 70th anniversary, said they have adopted a public school that they partner with in teachers training and infrastructure.