Feeding
By Olayinka Olawale
Lagos, June 4, 2018 (NAN) Mrs Ifejola Dada, Presisdent, Association of Formidable Educational Development (AFED) has appealed to the Federal Government to include children in low-fee private schools in its Home Grown School Feeding Programme.
Dada made the call at the 2018 news conference for the association’s annual congress entitled: Bridging the gap in education quality; the role of technology in low fee school.
She said that the Federal Government needed to understand that children in low-cost schools were there due to inadequate government facilities in low schools in locations where low schools operated.
Dada said that educational right of those children and privileges of attending basic school should be extended to children in low-fee private school such as we have in public school.
She said the privileges should include free feeding programme through the Home Grown Feeding Project of the Federal Government.
“Every child of school age should benefit from the free feeding programme, irrespective of if they are in public or private schools.
“We appeal to the government to include all our children in low-fee schools, to encourage them to stay focused and stay healthy while in school, ” she said.
Dada said the association was planning to introduce a tablet with pre-loaded textbooks, workbook, exercises and continuous assessment for every child in the basic education class by 2021.
She said the tablet would be sold to parents through loan and payment would be by installment.
She said the association was still consulting with some commercial banks to work out payment plan.
“This quest might seem giant but with our collective will, it is surmountable, as efforts have commenced in that right direction.
“We, therefore, call on President Muhammad Buhari to institute special fund from where operators could access affordable loan to support this laudable project, as matter of urgent national importance.
“You will agree with me that there are no low interests anywhere, except with the intervention of the Federal Government,” she said.
Dada said that low-fee schools had enrolled millions of out-of-school children because of its strategy to make education accessible to every child of school age.
“Today in Nigeria, the association can boast of comfortably bringing millions of children across the nation into the four walls of the classrooms.
“While these efforts are on-going, we are also coordinating our members to benefit from a project facilitated by DFID, a UK-sponsored programme through the convocation of DEEPEN Challenge Fund for the innovation.
“They teach our members the use of technology in bridging the gap on quality curriculum content deliveries across our schools.
“Our attention is very much on the use of technology, which is now a global trend for result-oriented learning.
“We are also aware that the issue of quality in content deliveries across low-fee schools is a case of concern and we are not leaving anything to chance.
“In line with our objectives, every Nigerian child, irrespective of creed, economic status and tribe, would be covered by the qualitative agenda of education for all, ” she said. (NAN)
OOG/YMU/IA
Edited by Yakubu Uba/Idris Abdulrahman