Pupils from Bridge Nigeria schools have performed exceptionally well for the third consecutive year beating last year’s top score of 190 by 5 marks, giving more children an opportunity to gain admission into top unity schools on merit.
This is according to the National Examination Council (NECO) results released for the 2021 National Common Entrance Examination Results for admission into Unity schools.
The top-performing pupil from Bridge is Christopher Inyanda, a 10-year-old boy from Bridge Aderenle Academy in Badagry who scored an outstanding 195 out of 200, placing him among the best-performing pupils in the competitive national examination in the country.
Christopher, who has high hopes of becoming a pilot in the future and flying in the sky, noted that he is grateful for the support he received from his parents and teachers and attributes the remarkable performance to the best teaching she received at Bridge. He says, ‘I like the method of teaching at Bridge and how my teachers always encourage me and my friends to aim for the best and study hard’.
Speaking about her good performance, a 10-year-old pupil from Bridge Hosannah Academy, Fiyinfoluwa Omale who emerged as the best performing female pupil with an incredible 191 out of 200 said “I am so proud of my success and my parents are really excited!
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I worked really hard and got a lot of help from my teachers in preparing for the exams which made me confident that I would do well.” Fiyinfoluwa acknowledged the efforts of her favourite teacher, Richard Akinyomi for ensuring that she understood all that she was taught in the classroom. Fiyinfoluwa hopes to become an engineer so that she can build things that would make life easier for people. She is set to join other students at her choice secondary school, Queens College, and now a step closer to achieving her future dreams.
The National Common Entrance Examination is eligible for pupils in their final grade of the primary school year. The purpose of the examination is to select the best candidates from every state of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for admission into Federal Unity colleges. Bridge pupils sat the exam for the third time and their good performance means that they will be able to join top Nigerian secondary schools and go on to pursue their dreams.
Bridge pupils from Osun State also recorded impressive performances in the examination, a pupil from Bridge Academy in Madakeke in Osun State who is on the Fadahunsi Education Foundation (FEF) scholarship, Thomas Akhigbe scored 179 and hopes to continue his secondary education at Federal Science and Technical College, Ilesha.
Other top performers in the examination include Chijindu Inyadike from Bridge Ganmo Academy in Ojo scored 185 while Blessing Iwuchukwu from Bridge Babatunde Laja Academy in Alimosho scored 184 and Susan Ike from Bridge Awelewa Academy in Alimosho scored an impressive 183 marks. The children noted that the learning materials provided by their schools and the support from their teachers and parents contributed immensely to their academic excellence.
Commenting on the results, the regional director of academics Rhoda Odigboh said, “Knowing that we are supporting children to excel in our country inspires those working at Bridge each and every day. Now, with three years of successful results, we are confident that what we are doing in the underserved communities of Lagos and Osun States is working, and this motivates us to work even harder and impact more children. A good education will give children the opportunity to change their future and hopefully the future of the community and Nigeria at large. Every child deserves that.”
Odigboh also attributed the success to the ongoing support from the Ministry of Education and other stakeholders in Bridge communities particularly the community leaders and parents groups, saying, “We are grateful to the community leaders and parents in our Academies for the support and encouragement that they have extended to us over the years.
The results show that the length of time a child spends in a Bridge school has a significant impact on their performance. Pupils who have been at Bridge for three or more years emerged among the top performers in the country.
The bridge has been supporting community schools across Lagos since 2015. 2019 was the first year that the school network entered pupils for the National Common Entrance exam; with the pupils performing extremely well. The impressive results in the Nigerian national exams, now for three consecutive years, provide further evidence that Bridge provides a strong education to children in Nigeria. They strengthen and build upon the preponderance of evidence showing equity of learning being gathered across Bridge community schools every year.
