The National Association of Seadogs (NAS), Pyrates Confraternity Sahara Deck, City Center, Abuja has installed ten white-tile-writing-boards for ten classrooms at Government Secondary School (GSS), Kuje; in addition to donating stacks of writing materials to the school.
The association’s effort is in line with the 2022 UNESCO World Literacy Day theme tagged: Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces, aimed at making learning spaces more conducive and interactive.
According to the Capoon, Sahara Deck, City Center, Abuja, Olumide Oni, the choice of GSS, Kuje was based off a survey assessment of schools in the FCT lacking basic education infrastructure.
Acknowledging the dilapidated classrooms which seemed even more pronounced as a backdrop for the white tiled-writing-board , Oni said the gesture is part of the association’s advocacy effort to highlight the deplorable learning conditions and state of basic education in Nigeria.
“We are appalled by the available statistics from the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which states that over 52,000 children in Abuja are out-of-school, and out of the 40.8 million school-age children in Nigeria, an estimated 10.2 million are out-of-school.
“Nigeria’s annual Education budget is a paltry sum compared to what is used in running the country. Government is investing more on tertiary education and has neglected primary and secondary education,” said Oni.
Leveraging on its Adopt A Child project established in December 2021, the NAS Sahara Deck, City Center, in collaboration with the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), will be taking children off the streets and back to school.
To achieve this, the branch launched an appeal for support to its confraternity members globally and to Nigerians to contribute to providing quality education for the Nigerian child.
“What we did is to appeal to members of the Confraternity to make a contribution towards the annual tuition fee and some other learning materials of any given child; and we are seeing positive response to that regard,” said Sahara Deck, City Center, Public Relations Officer, Stanley Nwankwo.
While there is no targeted number of set to benefit from the Adopt A Child out-of-school project, Secondmate, Chike Onyia said the association intends to do as much as it can with its limited finance.
“What we are doing is what the federal government should be doing. We have looked at the statistics available, and since government is not intervening in the sector, Sahara Deck, has decided to key in and make sure that we adopt these children.
“But we are also asking that the federal government do it’s duty. We are hoping that when they see what we are doing, they will key in and see the need to intervene and see that these children are given a better future and the quality education they require,” said Onyia.
With the Adopt A Child website (still in progress), members of the public can contribute to the project via the site.
“We are trying to put in place a long-term, sustainable solution that will outlive us; a sustainable system that will encourage other Nigerians to do the same, hence the development of the website,” said Sahara Deck member, Amaechi Obiekwe.
Established on October 26, 1966, the International Literacy Day is commemorated annually on September 8.
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