About 100 pupils of the Local Education Authority (L.E.A) Primary School, Lugbe in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja have been awarded scholarships by Daniel Onoja Foundation (DOF).
The scholarship was part of the foundation’s intervention program themed “DOF-School Intervention Project”, aimed at supporting the efforts of the government at ensuring that every Nigerian child gets quality education.
According to the founder, Daniel Onoja, the donation was part of the foundation’s commitment to reducing the number of out-of-school children in the country.
He said, “Education is critical to national development, and we know that most of these public schools do not have the necessary facilities to aid learning.
“So we discovered these gaps and we decided to come in with our intervention.
“Especially the out-of-school children, we picked them out of the streets and brought them back to school because we want to ensure that no child is left behind.
“We will also ensure that our monitoring team continues to monitor the progress of these children, even as we look forward to enrolling more children in the future,” Onoja said.
Aside from the scholarship programme, the foundation also donated 100 pieces of furniture, as well as school bags, uniforms, books, sandals and stationery to pupils.
Speaking further on the initiative, Beedof Abireh, project lead, DOF-SIP, explained that the foundation was committed to reaching the unreached and lifting the burden off vulnerable persons in the country.
“We donated 100 sets of furniture because we carried out the needs assessment in the school and we saw that most of the pupils were sitting on the floor.
“We made the donation so that learning can be fun and comfortable for the children.
“We also absorbed 20 new out of school children and paid PTA dues for 80 new pupils, totaling 100 pupils, and we paid for two terms for each pupil.
“We hope to go to other rural communities in the country to ensure that all children in Nigeria get access to quality education,” he said.
Mamman Chanchangi, the school’s headmaster, appreciated the organisation for the donation, adding that the kind gesture would ameliorate the burden on parents.
(NAN)
