In a metropolis with rising schooling prices, an Abuja college is difficult the established order with an reasonably priced payment construction that fees a meagre N100 tuition payment per day, OWEDE AGBAJILEKE reviews.
Favour, a 12-year-old lady from Kuje, a suburb of Abuja, was destined for little one marriage as a consequence of poverty and lack of schooling. Her widowed mom, Mrs Linus, struggled to supply for her each day wants.
Nevertheless, in 2019, Favour enrolled at KNOSK N100 a-day Charity College, escaping little one marriage and discovering her arithmetic expertise. She received one of the best junior secondary two scholar award in 2021 and now aspires to turn out to be an airforce pilot.
In a metropolis the place exorbitant college charges have turn out to be the norm, KNOSK College, in Kuje, Abuja, is altering the established order with a revolutionary method to schooling pricing.
With about 35 kilometres from the nation’s capital, KNOSK’s reasonably priced schooling initiative has reworked Favour’s life and 169 others. Her story highlighted the stark actuality of kid marriage in West and Central Africa, the place about 60 million women are affected.
In keeping with the United Nations Youngsters’s Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria ranks third globally, with 44 per cent of ladies married earlier than 18, totalling 24 million little one brides.
The teenager’s inspiring journey highlighted one other urgent concern: Nigeria’s staggering variety of out-of-school kids. In keeping with United Nations Academic, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO), a staggering 20 million kids are out-of-school, underscoring the pressing want for interventions.
With N100-a-day college charges, college students obtain free books, uniforms, sportswear, each day lunch, and sanitary kits month-to-month for the ladies. Authorised by the Federal Ministry of Training and registered as KNOSK Charity Training Initiative, the secondary college commenced operations in September 2019 with 30 college students and has elevated to 170, offering skills-based schooling to indigent kids. Its pioneer college students are set to put in writing the Senior College Certificates Examination (SSCE) this 12 months.
Findings confirmed that the varsity’s progressive funding mannequin permits mother and father to pay a token of N100 each day. The Guardian investigation additionally revealed that the varsity depends on help from company organisations, donor businesses, philanthropists and particular person sponsors to reinforce the price of college charges, educating and non-teaching employees, instructional supplies, foodstuff, and sanitary pads, amongst others.
A large number of organisations and people are supporting this initiative, together with Julius Berger, which donated state-of-the-art amenities, Embassy of Eire, which supplied full scholarships to deserving women; MacArthur Basis, which contributed $38,000 funding help for 20 college students, coated 25 lecturers’ salaries for a 12 months, and laboratory tools, in addition to the Chief Govt Officer of Transcorp Lodges, Dupe Olusola, who just lately sponsored 15 college students to commemorate her fiftieth birthday, by her ‘50 by 50’ initiative.
It has additionally acquired grants from Wally Foreman Basis in Australia, Ford Basis, the USA Embassy and quite a few different benefactors. The college can be off the nationwide grid as an unbiased energy producer, Azure Energy World Restricted, final 12 months, donated a 21 kilowatts inverter with 24 photo voltaic panels, making certain that the excessive value of vitality is taken off its chest.
Throughout a tour of the varsity, The Guardian explored the ability’s state-of-the-art facilities, together with its science lab, language studio, library, data and communications Know-how (ICT) centre, lecture rooms, workstations, and mini farm.
The college’s co-founder, Kingsley Bangwell, mentioned the establishment was designed for kids from low-income households incomes under the minimal wage.To forestall exploitation and be sure that solely deserving college students profit, the Bangwell mentioned the varsity conducts dwelling visits to confirm the monetary standing of potential college students’ households, adopted by a aggressive entrance examination.
“We established the KNOSK N100 a-day college as a result of we wished to assist in fixing one in all Nigeria’s extended issues, which is that tens of millions of kids should not going to high school primarily due to poverty.
“What we do is that we search for these we name ‘Training Angels.’ They’re individuals we current these kids to, their historical past, and ask them to sponsor or co-sponsor them.”
He disclosed that the worsening financial state of affairs and the galloping inflation are taking its toll on mother and father, as greater than 60 per cent can not afford the N100 each day college charges.
Not like typical personal establishments the place college students are despatched dwelling for non-payment of charges or stopped from writing examinations, Bangwell mentioned the varsity doesn’t deny college students entry to schooling as a consequence of unpaid charges, selling inclusivity and continuity.
He mentioned: “We now have individuals which are owing for 4 years. At that stage, you may not say they owe. You simply write it off. We don’t cease kids from coming to high school as a result of their mother and father didn’t pay N100 a-day.
“And our purpose is true. Our supply is that if a toddler passes our examination, we are going to supply the coed six years’ schooling, whether or not or not the dad or mum pays N100 a day, as a result of if we ship them away, then what’s the distinction between us and others and the way are we addressing the difficulty of out-of-school kids?”
Moreover, Bangwell highlighted the varsity’s gender ratio of three:2, the place women comprise 60 per cent and boys 40 per cent, describing as alarming, out-of-school knowledge, which revealed that 55 per cent of ladies drop out of college, highlighting the pressing want to handle this disparity.
Head of Studying Design, Irene Bangwell, disclosed that lecturers’ salaries are coated by sponsorship funds and known as for elevated partnership help to maintain their compensation whereas expressing gratitude to some personal colleges which have additionally contributed to the varsity’s instructor help.
“Proper now, there isn’t any little one represented within the college that doesn’t come from a low-income household as a result of all kids are vetted from dwelling,” she said.
In keeping with Bagwell, KNOSK College makes use of the Nigerian curriculum however infused its motion studying curriculum, which emphasises computer-based, problem-solving and creativity in studying and utility, including that termly hackathons are organised to check for real-life utility of data learnt within the classroom.
“We even have a partnership help with the U.S. Embassy. They only just lately gave us a grant that can permit us to supply English Language schooling to kids from low-income households in Kuje. We’re pulling 35 kids from neighbouring colleges to return right here for an after-school programme that can run for 2 years,” she mentioned.
She denounced the disturbing follow the place mother and father ship their underage kids to work as home maids after college, highlighting the extreme penalties this has on their bodily, emotional, and psychological well-being.
She argued that this alarming phenomenon not solely robs kids of their basic proper to schooling and childhood but additionally exposes them to bodily abuse and exploitation, emotional trauma and psychological misery, restricted entry to schooling and private growth, elevated vulnerability to human trafficking, fashionable slavery in addition to long-term injury to their social and financial prospects.
She emphasised the pressing want for strengthened little one safety legal guidelines and enforcement, elevated consciousness campaigns to coach mother and father and communities, help programs for weak households to scale back poverty-driven exploitation and empowerment programmes for rescued kids to rebuild their lives.
Among the beneficiaries who spoke to The Guardian, together with pioneer scholar, Solver Majorie (SS3) and Solver Fareedat (SS2) mentioned that however for his or her sponsors, they’d have dropped out of college.
Sponsored by the Embassy of Eire, Fareedat hopes to turn out to be an aeronautical engineer and envisions a future the place she contributes to groundbreaking improvements in aviation, remodeling the skies and past.
Majorie is sponsored by the Chief Govt Officer (CEO), Reliance HMO, Dr Femi Kuti, including that he can be among the many first set of scholars from the establishment to put in writing the Senior Secondary Certificates Examination (SSCE).
In the meantime, stakeholders have advocated for extra of such establishments to be established in rural areas. A public affairs analyst, Ifeanyi Nwoko, urged well-meaning Nigerians to help such an initiative, whilst he known as for an upward evaluate of schooling tax to three.5 per cent to channel the proceeds to spice up schooling funding.
Additionally, the Initiator of the Artistic Change Centre, Omole Ibukun, mentioned KNOSK College is a beacon of hope in a rustic combating poverty and escalating college charges.
In keeping with him, the varsity’s success highlighted the necessity for drastic motion to handle the disaster within the sector, significantly the rising variety of out-of-school kids.
To sort out this, Ibukun underscored the necessity for the federal government to prioritise funding public schooling, making it free and accessible to all. He famous that this could tackle poverty and supply alternatives for younger individuals to pursue schooling over dangerous actions like web fraud.
“The success of this college is making a residing argument for our case for a free public schooling by the federal government. The just about-free nature of this college has made it doable for the varsity to spice up enrollment. Within the face of escalating college charges amidst abject poverty, any wise authorities will declare a state of emergency within the schooling sector by making public schooling free.”
