Featured Politics News

Group calls for more private sector participation to provide quality education

By Giwa SHILE

An NGO, the SchoolMe Foundation, has called for increased private sector participation in developmental programmes to support government’s efforts in providing quality education for Nigerians.

The organisation made the call on Tuesday in Abuja while unveiling the SchoolMe scholarship lottery programme.

Mr Jacob Momoh, a representative of the foundation, said that the educational support programme was designed to provide financial aid to young people and also fund educational projects across the country via lottery.

According to him, the lack of fund should never be a reason for not getting quality education.

“As such, pooling resources from the public to make funds available to anyone who is interested in going to school is our main focus, and at the same time rewarding players through the lottery.

“The idea is to give everyone a chance to make a little sacrifice by playing the lottery which will help fund education for others; there is the possibility of winning some cash,’’ he said.

Momoh explained that the education funding initiative would not only check the increasing financial constrains mitigating against students’ dreams, but would also go a long way in addressing the dwindling access to quality education in Nigeria.

“The initiative is designed to creatively raise funds to mitigate the high cost education and support the academic dreams of the citizenry.

“The SchoolMe scholarship lottery is poised to provide a viable scholarship initiative with a two-prong approach which are instant financial reward and scholarship,’’ Momoh said.

Prof. Damian Ogbonnaya of Engineering Science Department, State University, New York, urged Nigerians to participate in the programme to generate income to promote academic goals of young Nigerians.

According to him, the cost of education is getting astronomically high and many are finding it very difficult to access quality education.

“Some who have accessed are finding it difficult to go through school because of financial constraints.

“Countless numbers are dropping out of school; others want to further their studies but do not have the means.

“This has led to increased number of miscreants who become a menace to the society,’’ Ogbonnaya said.

Similarly, a Nollywood actor, Mr Francis Duru, while commending the initiators of the project, urged Nigerians to explore the opportunity to liberate themselves from poverty.

Duru said, “education is the most powerful tool in which you can use to change the society.

“There exists a parallel correlation between education and development.

“The school fund initiative will create a pool of enlightened and educated citizens that will form the base of human capital resources for the development of our country Nigeria,’’ he said.

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