Chris Oyakhilome Foundation International has launched its 100 per cent free school in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos State.
The free school project in Ibeju-Lekki, which is built under the auspices of Inner City Mission for Children is the fourth in Lagos State and 10th in Nigeria.
Chief sponsor of the project, Pastor Deola Phillips, who spoke on behalf of co-sponsors at the inauguration on Sunday, said that the 100 per cent free school project was to ensure that indigent children had access to proper education.
Phillips, who is also the chief executive officer of Loveworld Incorporated said that education remained a core focus area for the Chris Oyakhilome Foundation International.
She said that in Nigeria, the estimated number of out-of-school children remained unacceptably high, as reports had it that poverty was a major reason why millions of them had never seen the four walls of a school or had dropped out of school.
According to her, the Chris Oyakhilome Foundation International is at the forefront of protecting the right of every indigent child to education, as it is strongly believe that education can be the catalyst that breaks the cycle of poverty.
”By giving indigent children access to education and helping them learn relevant life skills, we are molding them to become profitable members of society which will, in turn, help us to build and sustain vibrant and economically stable communities.
”Today, we are set to commission the InnerCity Mission Primary School, Ibeju-Lekki which will provide a suitable place of learning for the children in this community and environs.
”This is a monumental step in building the foundation of a great future for them. This Primary School will equip boys and girls alike from communities in Ibeju-Lekki with necessary tools to help them live above poverty and deprivation.
”Through the unique curriculum we offer, they will be transformed to become children who would grow up to be adults who bring profit and not destruction to the society.
”Today’s child is tomorrow’s future. This school represents hope, opportunity, and is a message to every child who will be enrolled here that their dreams are possible,” she said.
Phillips noted that children in the community would no longer have to walk long hours to get to the nearest school, as education had been brought right to their doorsteps and a new day had begun.
In her opening speech, director, Inner City Mission Pastor Omoh Alabi said that to deny children their fundamental right to education was to hamper the growth and advancement of any nation.
According to Alabi, the school is completely free, as it is a sustained solution that eliminates the financial barriers limiting children in low-income families from accessing or completing their primary school education; irrespective of gender, religion, ethnicity or nationality.
She said that each child enroled across the network of schools received a scholarship to start and complete their primary education.
Alabi said that in addition to quality education, they received school uniforms, school shoes and socks, textbooks, notebooks, stationery, school bags, sportswear and free transportation to and from school.
She added that they would receive free primary health care at the school dispensaries, free school meals and more all through their primary education at no cost.
The Onisolu of Solu-Alade Kingdom, Oba Muideen Balogun, commended the foundation for choosing Ibeju-Lekki for the project, as the presence of the school would count as another development marker for Ibeju-Lekki.
