Start-Rite School graduates 1st set of secondary school students

From Fred Ezeh, Abuja

Start-Rite School, Abuja, has graduated first set of its secondary school students, 15 years after establishment.

The graduation ceremony also provided opportunity for the school community to celebrate the Founder of the school, Mrs. Amaka Ndoma-Egba, who died in a car crash few years ago.

Chairman of the School Advisory Board, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, in his welcome remarks, recalled with nostalgia, the journey of the School which was established in 2008 by his late wife,Amaka Ndoma-Egba, in her determination to contribute her quota to the nation’s education sector.

He appreciated the journey and impact of the school so far as evident in the academic and non-academic performance of the students, particularly the Year 12 (SS3) students who have distinguished themselves and had even won laurels in different areas.

Senator Ndoma-Egba, however, recommended that Nigeria’s education system be redesigned and tailored to creating jobs rather than seeking jobs, emphasizing the need for inculcation of entrepreneurial mindset in students as according him, ”education now is about creating jobs.”

He insisted that the world is in an era where education was for creating jobs, noting that the wealth of a nation is not in their natural resources, not in their oil nor in their forex but in their young men and women only if they are educated.

He said: ”Education for jobs is going out of fashion. We are now in an era of education for creating jobs. So, our education must be geared towards creating jobs and not seeking jobs.

“At Start-Rite School, we are working together with Tony Elumelu Foundation on entrepreneurship. They are supporting us in the realization of this. We want to believe that by the time that we have trained our students in entrepreneurship, they would go into the world not seeking jobs but creating jobs for others.”

He advised the graduating students to strive to be the best among their contemporaries, stressing that they have the potentials to be the best among their peers leveraging the quality of education and training they received.

Principal of the School, Femi Akinlade, in his speech described the maiden graduation ceremony for the first set of secondary school students as a milestone in its 15 years of existence.

He said: “It’s a milestone because while we always graduate pupils from the primary school, this is the first graduation from the secondary school. The school started as an early-year primary school in 2008 but it was in 2018 that the secondary school was birthed.

“This is the first set of students that we groomed from the beginning. They have done very well. They have written IGCSE examination and they did very well, they have written JAMB and also did very well. Almost all of them have secured admission both at home and abroad.

“We also have scholarship programme for the top students. When we write entrance examination, students who scored 90 percent, usually enjoy our scholarship arrangement. There is the Victor and Amaka Ndoma-Egba Foundation, VANEF, which help students who are not very privileged to be able to have some form of education .

”We also partner with entities like Tony Elumelu Foundation, who has also given a lot of money both to the school and to VANEF to be able to help the underprivileged.”

Mr Akinlade, advised the graduating students to follow the path of other students that graduated from the school in the past years.

A parent in the school, Mrs. Julie Abaribe,who is also a friend of late Mrs Amaka Ndoma- Egba, described the school as unique, noting that the school was unique in its way of raising students on leadership training.

She said: “One of the things that I like about the school is the fact that it is not just academics all the way. The children are taught how to find their skills themselves and their talents especially in the world of today.

“The world of today is all about being diversified in whatever you are doing,so the school is based on that, where education is key but also skills of life is key.

Abaribe advised the federal government to create opportunities for children in public schools so that they can have some of the opportunities those in government today had during their growing up days.

PHOTO CAPTION

Students and school management during the graduation ceremony