In a bid to reach out to the less privileged and promote educational development in the country, a humanitarian group Raymond Akor Memorial Foundation in partnership with Wadi Ben Hirki Foundation has distributed educational materials to L.E.A Primary School Pupils in Nasarawa, Kaduna State.
Founder of the Non-governmental Organization, Mrs. Helen Akor who disclosed this during the exercise said, over four hundred pupils and students benefitted from the Back to School Outreach where school bags, exercise books and writing materials were distributed.
Helen Akor who expressed satisfaction with the level of excitement from both pupils and teachers called on organizations and well-meaning individuals to come up with such initiative with a view to assisting the less privileged as well as complement government efforts in providing education to the citizens.
She explained that, the resultant effect of the initiative on basic education would translate into having well-meaning Nigerians as well as purposeful leadership for growth and development of the country in the future.
“Initially, we wanted to attend to the whole school with the population of about one thousand five hundred pupils but we couldn’t raise enough resources, so we decided that we will attend to only primary six. Somehow, God helped us, we were able to gather resources, and the materials went far beyond our expectations as we are able to reach out to over three hundred pupils and about one hundred secondary students.”
Mrs. Akor said, “We were able to attend to one hundred and two primary six pupils, one hundred and one primary five pupils,one hundred and eighteen primary four pupils and one hundred and one secondary school students bringing the total to four hundred and twenty two children.
While distributing the study materials, the humanitarian advocate charged both students and pupils to be committed to their studies by taking advantage of the time and resources expended on them to become better citizens in the future.
She told teachers to engage learners with exercises and positive counsel to ensure they don’t engage in unwanted vices capable of destroying them and the society at large, as she called for more collaborations.
Leader of the Foundation added that “although effort was made to raise support through advert on social media and appeal to individuals, only a few good spirited individuals and some stakeholders of the Foundation responded,
“The budget was seven thousand five hundred Naira per child for school bags, books and other writing materials, we were able to achieve this target with our own funds and the support we received,
“Many people don’t see the need to reach out to the less privileged, but it is something that is worth doing, government cannot do everything at a time like this because resources are limited, the population is growing, so if individuals can reach out to the less privileged more, it will go a long way”, she added.
On her part, the head mistress of the school Mrs.Victoria Ayuba who thanked the Foundations for their show of love, prayed God to bless them abundantly and called on wealthy individuals in the country to emulate this gesture in their communities to ensure the less privileged have access to good education.
She said that, the whole school structure was in the state of disrepair with no chairs and tables, toilets and study materials for the pupils, hence the need for educational authorities like Universal Basic Education, UBEC, Better Education Service Delivery For All, BESDA, ‘a World Bank Initiative on Basic Education to come to their aid.
The Parents Teachers Association (PTA)chairman of the school, Mr Solomon Dauda Anzagu described the initiative as a welcome development, which he posited was service to humanity which depicted what Christians in Antioch did during the days of old that qualified them ‘the Christ Like status’.
Solomon Anzagu expressed happiness that the development occurred during his tenure as PTA Chairman and called on politicians to always reach out to those in need toward driving the country to a greater height.
Some of the beneficiaries, Aisha Mohammed and Idris Hamza appreciated Raymond Akor Memorial Foundation and Wadi Ben Hirki Foundation for considering their school and providing them with educational materials such as bags, note books among others.
Earlier, the pupils were assembled and sensitised with the word of God to widen their knowledge about his love for humanity.
Pastor Philip Terwuna who chaired the session told the students that they are the future leaders of the country, hence the need for them to be properly guided, instructed and assisted toward preserving the future of the Nation.
He charged them to always believe in God and be committed to their studies and avoid doing things that are capable of endangering their future for the overall good of the country.
DANIEL KARLMAX/Kaduna