To commemorate the International Day of Education, the Sir Emeka Okwuosa Foundation has hosted a competition for secondary schools in Anambra State, in which the outstanding school was awarded a cash prize.
The Foundation also hosted a symposium which converged over 300 students from Ichi, Ozubulu, Ihembosi and Oraifite in the Ekwusigo Local Government Area.
The symposium featured professional mentorship, soft skills that students need to apply and excel and a critical thinking test where 14 schools were represented by two students to participate.
The winner of the prize money was Community Secondary School, Ozubulu and was awarded the sum of N500,000 to launch a school project in the next two months.
Representatives and partners in attendance were Wariri Cephalus, the Chief of Staff to the GCEO of Oilserv Group, Gabriel Iroagbarachi; the Assistant General Manager of Seahorse Lubricant Industries Limited, Okereke; the Area Zonal Coordinator on Education and representing the Anambra Commissioner for Education, the group Secretary of Ibeto Group, Chimezie Obi, the Ekwusigo Local Government Chairman.
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The representative of the Commissioner for Education, Okereke called for sustained efforts to advance Sustainable Development Goal 4, to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
She thanked the Foundation for supporting the mission to advance education by converging hundreds of students and awarding a public school with prize money.
Announcing the prize money was WaririCephalus, Chief of Staff to the GCEO of Oilserv Group and representing the Chairman of the Foundation.
Amanda Obidike, general manager of the Sir EmekaOkwuosa Foundation, took the students and teachers through the 21st Century skills and the 4Cs.
Obidike urged public and private stakeholders to give priority to education through partnerships and funding in order to get towards all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
She added that there hasn’t been much change in Nigeria’s out-of-school rates among adolescents and young people in secondary school whose out-of-school population has grown by 61 percent, from 6.3 million to 10 million in January 2023.
The theme of this year’s International Day of Education, ‘To invest in people, prioritise education’ was an effort of the Foundation to step up engagement in schools in favour of education as the path to sustainable development, individual and collective well-being, while providing students with a platform to present their initiatives and innovations with critical thinking skills to advance the right to education.
