MD School, Lagos recently celebrated its pan-African Day with the theme “A Day in Africa” on the premises of one of its branches in the New Oko Oba area of the state.
The event was in commemoration of Africa Day which is the annual celebration of the foundation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) on 25 May 1963.
Although the OAU transformed into the African Union (AU) on July 9, 2002 in Durban, Africa Day continues to be celebrated on May 25 every year.
To celebrate the day, every class in MD School represented each country in Africa, with parents given pan-African passports to enable them entry into the hall.
Parents were also referred to the Bureau De Change desk to exchange their naira for the currency of any country they want to “tour”.
Also, every class represented about 38 countries in Africa.
Head of school Eunice Akaiso stated that before now, the school held an event called Ankara Day, where students will wear specific attire for each state.
Akaiso said: “Before, now the school celebrated Ankara Day, where students represented a tribe with their attire.
“At the beginning of the session, all classes were given a project to learn about a country.
“There was a ballot and the children picked the countries they will be presenting.
“In second term, the children presented their project with PowerPoint in the presence of their parents.
“Today’s event is the buildup of all they have learnt.”
School Director Oluwaseun Amusa stated that the event was a buildup on the continuous teaching of different African countries.
Amusa said: “This event is a buildup.
“The children have been learning about different countries in Africa since the beginning of the term.
“The idea behind it is that we don’t want our children to only know about their country, but they should also know about other countries.
“Most of our children only know United Kingdom, United States of America and they don’t know that Africa is rich.
“There are so many tourist sites in Africa and so many natural resources.
“They don’t need to go far.
“The only thing is that Africans are no longer together.
“So we decided that every class will learn about one African country so they can really know about it.”
Head girl of the school Modadeoluwa Adelowo noted that she enjoyed the presentations by all the classes.
Adelowo said: “I enjoyed the presentations by all the classes and each class celebrated a country in Africa.
“Also, I liked the fact that the presentations enlightened the parents about what we have been learning in school.”
Another student, Temilade Ogunleye said she enjoyed the fact that different countries came together to celebrate Africa’s oneness.
Ogunleye said: “Today’s event was nice, with different countries coming out to celebrate Africa as one.
“Celebrating 38 countries is also good because the school is using their resources and time to put all of this together and it felt like we were really in Africa.
“I think all schools in Africa should celebrate this as we are celebrating our dear Africa.”
A parent Mary Bewaji stated that she enjoyed the event because it really exposed the children while noting it has enlightened her children more.
