Schools in Nigeria must return to the task of grooming change agents in the form of students while they are still at school.
The admonition came from Tony Akpan, a retired oil industry engineer and chairman of Showers group of schools in Port Harcourt, the school that always wins the British Council Best Learners Awards in Cambridge International Examinations in both ordinary and advance levels since 2017.
Akpan spoke at the 2021 end of year event of the school at its Woji area headquarters while passing his end or year message.
He said most schools make the mistake of focusing on academics without adequate attention to the character of the future leaders. He said Showers identified the gap from the onset and built a culture of character with deep religious backgrounding to release change agents in the society at their graduation.
He said the message the students should take home is that Jesus is a change agent through His humanity. Anybody who surrenders to Him is born again and has the holy spirit in him and is a change agent, whether it is in the government, business/economy, schools, media, we are to be change agents. That is the message.”
He stated that the world seems to be as bad as it is because humans are born with a depraved nature, but at the new birth, God now dwells in any man to have a chance. “Many are not living out their lives. When you get into the street, you can’t identify who is a Christian, but when Christ enters into you, you become a change agent.”
He admitted that Jesus has helped Showers as a school. “We started and named it Showers Christian High School because we want people to recognise that Jesus is honoured in this school. Children spend more time at school than at home. Expect that here, there will be a change in the life of your child for the better.”
Read also: Lagos sets Jan. 4 as resumption date for public, private schools
Supporting the call for educated persons to be change agents and rescue Nigeria, an ex-student, a lawyer, Celine Okoroma-Vincent, urged the students from such well-mannered schools to rise and shine the light in the huge darkness she said Nigeria faces at the moment.
The lawyer who said she passed through Showers 18 years ago described the school as centre of growth and consistency. She said: “If you look around in Nigeria, you will touch gloom, darkness, and depressive things. We need a savior. In the beginning, it was dark, let there be light, now. You are the light of the world.”
Knowledge comes from reading – parent
A nurse and parent with three children, Okike Nsikak, said in an interview that said she had to move her children from a very big school because of the flaw of not paying close attention to the individual needs of each child, something she said was taken for granted at Showers.
“I have seen their first results and I am impressed. With what I have seen, I know this is a standard school that goes straight to your character. The woman and her husband nurtured me as my pastors when I was yet a spinster. I have known them now as excellent educationists. Mrs Akpan is very intelligent. When she was on admission, she was reading all through, newspapers, books, files, etc. I said, Mummy, don’t you rest? She said, no, no, no, this is how I gather my knowledge to run my school. I learnt so much from her. She is truly a mother-general, grooming characters, producing results and making it happen no matter how degraded a situation is. In academics, and no matter how dull a child is, she will bring out the best in that child. That is why this school is different.
“This school is known for bringing out hidden abilities in any child. That’s why the parents relax. In the former school, the talents were buried. Even if a child is dull, Showers will bring them out.”
Bullying is zero here – Grade 10 student
One of the students, Dibor Jidenna, said: “Bullying is reigning now but this place is 100 per cent bully-free. I am a witness. There is zero-tolerance here, and it’s the school authorities that did it. There is no cultism, definitely not.
“This is a lovely school. It gets to the root in you and brings it up. I was weak in some areas and this school has brought me up.”
…………………………………………………
