Undergraduate donates books worth N500, 000 to schools in Ibadan

ELEVEN years ago, a young lady by name Tolulope Ogunremi based in the United Kingdom visited Nigeria for a burial ceremony of one of her grandparents. On arrival, she saw some children hawking wares on the streets. Her inquiry from her father stunned her.

Miss Ogunremi, 20, now a 300 level undergraduate of Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, United Kingdom, could not hide her surprise at her father’s revelation. To her, listening to the stories that those children on the streets fending for themselves, and that some of them are even sponsoring their education from various energy sapping ventures is cruel. On her return to the United Kingdom, she embarked on a research on challenges facing Nigerian pupils about their educational pursuit. That singular revelation gave her the impetus to come back so as to assist Nigerian children in her little way.

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So, that passion metamorphosed into developing a scheme about empowering young people from Africa through her pet project.

On this, she eventually returned to Nigeria to donating 350 copies of New General Mathematics textbooks worth N500, 000 to the Junior Secondary School students of Community High School, Ajara in Ibadan.

Ogunremi also stated that she would also be getting in touch with the students on regular basis to check the results of their assessments in Mathematics each term. As if that was not enough, on the day she personally presented the copies of the textbooks to the students, she also announced an offer to pay school fees of top 10 students of the school’s Junior Secondary School two and three until the end of their secondary education.

In her address, Ogunremi who was welcomed to the school premises by the students with funfair said: “I am here today because I felt the need to empower students by providing relevant resources. Better knowledge of Mathematics will never be a waste. I hope that the donation of these textbooks will inspire you all to forge ahead.

“I am pleased to announce that after review of the assessments at the end of 2018/19 session, top five pupils in Junior Secondary School two and top five students in Junior Secondary School three will have their tuition fees until the end of SSS3 paid by my humble self.”

She revealed that she came about this after her interaction with people and research data which brought to light that the state of education is not the best in Nigeria.

According to Tolulope Ogunremi, “roughly 10.1 million children are out of school and even those that are fortunate enough to be in public education are not getting the education they deserve. This is due to a lack of availability of teachers or lack of commitment due to poor motivation and remuneration. Sadly, there are parts of the country with textbook ratio of 1:100. The current staggering 39 per cent illiteracy rate of Nigerian adults is largely attributable to these factors and this must change.

“There are several ways to provide aid and improve the state of education in Nigeria, such as sponsoring private education of a child or of children and providing lunch to incentivise attendance or provide relevant resources to the students.

“I believe providing relevant materials, in this case textbook, will not only help teachers in need of motivation but also empower students to take their education into their own hands, giving them a user-friendly and largely accessible resource for self-learning. A textbook is also an arm of resources that does not require electricity or access to the internet, both of which are not readily available to most Nigerians.”

The father of the donor, Mr Taiwo Ogunremi, stated that Tolulope’s inspiration began after she visited Nigeria and saw the need to help the children hawking during school hours.

He noted that his daughter later called to inform him of her decision to raise funds to assist in returning them to schools with whatever she could do.

The Permanent Secretary, Oyo State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Ibironke Fatoki, commended the donor for the gesture, urging other well meaning Nigerians to emulate such.

Also in her speech, the Principal, Community High School Ajara in Ibadan, Mrs Adebola Adeleye, and representative of the students, Samuel Augustine, commended the philanthropic gesture of Ogunremi.

She said the importance of excellence in Mathematics could not be over emphasized, saying it was a prerequisite for all science and social science in our universities.

“I commend Miss Tolulope Ogunremi for the help she has extended to the students in this sub-rural area who have hitherto not been able to purchase mathematics textbooks. I promise that the books will be put to judicious use and we pray that Miss Tolulope Ogunremi and her family shall be amply rewarded by God,” she said.