Doris Obinna
In a bid to catch them young, the Director General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo has eulogised the presentation of the Kellogg’s Superstars awards to 50 school pupils, majority of who were invited to Lagos along with their parents.
Pouring encomium on the directors of Kellogg’s Tolaram, Soyombo said, “the company is imbued with rare foresight aimed at making the whole child, by not rewarding pupils with scholarships and also investing in educational infrastructure, educational partnerships, literacy commitment and other primary needs that ensures brighter opportunities for the Nigerian child.”
“It is crystal clear that Kellogg’s Tolaram essay competition and reward initiative was borne out of passion and will no doubt contribute to the expanding educational status of Lagos State and Nigeria.”
The contest which began in March 2019 reached out to more than 1.8 million pupils in 12,000 schools across
Rivers, Lagos and Oyo State. The students were tasked to exhibit their writing talent on the topic; “What makes you a Kellogg’s Superstar,” after which 50 outstanding pupils emerged.
The major highlight of the ceremony was when the young Kellogg’s superstars read their essays to the audience, which include their parents, representatives of their schools, officials from the Ministry of Education, National Association of Proprietors Private Schools (NAPPS) and a member of the Federal House of Representatives.
House of Assembly Member, Mrs. Tolu AkandeSadipe, said according to UNICEF, one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria, even though primary education is officially free and compulsory and that about 10.5 million of the children aged 5-14years in the country are not in school and only 61 per cent of 6-11 year olds regularly attend primary school.
She however, explained that some of the solutions would be for government, private organisations and individuals to come together to ensure free education (nursery and primary level) for the underprivileged children, promotion of scholarship programs while also training and improve teachers’ welfare.
Also speaking at the event, the president, National Association of Private Schools (NAPPS), Lagos State Chapter, Alhaji Wasiu Adumadeyin, who confirmed that the impact is certainly far reaching on the economy when corporate organisations get involved in education support, especially at this elementary stage where foundation becomes undeni- ably important.
The General Manager, Kellogg Tolaram, Mrs. Vani Malik, who spoke on the premise of the speech by member of the lower chambers, Mrs. Akande, Sadipe, said, presently the society is still battling with the challenge of a substantial population of primary school pupils who are out of school.
Malik confirmed that the challenge was one of the major rationale, which brought about the concept of the Kellogg’s Superstars scholarship to contribute its quota to the economic growth of the country.