Corona Day Secondary School, Lekki, has pledged to scale up investment in technology, in the expectation that the investment will ensure its students are hands-on in experiential learning and, by extension, become globally competitive.

In what can be described as a journey from lockdown to legacy, the school has graduated its first-ever set, which enrolled in 2020, when COVID-19 shuttered classrooms and disrupted learning experiences worldwide.

The class of 2026, consisting of 32 students, didn’t just earn certificates; they displayed a great deal of resilience, which was rewarded by the numerous awards, recognitions and laurels they won for the school, some of which could take contemporary institutions decades to replicate.

The set’s dynamic learning experience, which included intermittently switching to online learning during the pandemic, as well as school-wide participation in major exams under pandemic restrictions, has also informed a new thinking for the school’s management.

The management recently upscaled the school’s technology enhancement tools and platforms with the support of the Corona Schools Alumni Association, including tools like virtual reality and augmented reality systems, to transform the learning experience for its students.

To kickstart this process, the school has incorporated artificial intelligence into about five subjects with the expectation that these investments will ensure its students are hands-on in experiential learning and, by extension, become globally competitive.

Disclosing these upcoming investments at the sidelines of the inaugural graduation ceremony of its Lekki Secondary School, Olaniyi Yusuf, Governing Board Chairman, Corona Schools’ Trust Council, credited the board and management team for accomplishing the task of unveiling their Lekki Secondary School campus six years ago and now having its first set of graduates.

“We are truly grateful to parents who trusted us with their children at a brand-new campus during the scariest year in recent memory. Today, we’ve produced another set of leaders,” Yusuf said, adding that graduates have not only attained academic excellence but have also succeeded in non-academic activities such as sports, public speaking, and other areas.

Congratulating the students for their resilience, Oluwagbemileke Amoo, principal of Corona Day Secondary School, Lekki, said, “If one word is to summarise how I feel, it’ll be fulfilment. It was a risk to start in the year that we started. There were uncertainties, but there was just faith.”

He continued, “That faith is now vindicated. The set’s salutatorian scored 363 in UTME, the 11th position nationally. One graduate is the reigning national shot put and discus champion in his age category, a title he’s defended from Ibadan to Lagos. Others have carried the school to the top of regional basketball and debate competitions.”

The set’s unique story was further captured by the school principal disclosing how the students intermittently switched to online learning at the height of Covid-19 and participated in major exams under pandemic restrictions, yet grades didn’t drop.

According to Amoo, the set also inspired the idea of PEN (Problem solvers, Excel, and Network). A framework designed by the set to help sharpen their minds and build their character and ultimately help them mature year after year.

Taofeek Oyedokun is a correspondent at BusinessDay with years of experience reporting on political economy, public policy, migration, environment/climate change, and social justice. A graduate of Political Science from the University of Lagos, he has also earned multiple professional certificates in journalism and media-related training. Known for his clear, data-driven reporting, Oyedokun covers a wide range of national and international socioeconomic issues, bringing depth, balance, and public-interest focus to his work.

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