The Africa Community School (ACS) and the Africa International College (AIC), in a bid to giving back to the society have impacted no fewer than 109 learners with scholarships gulping about N70 million.
The Executive Secretary of the schools, Mrs. Caroline Yakubu disclosed this at a news conference to herald their 20th Anniversary Celebration in Abuja on Wednesday.
Yakubu said the schools also collaborated with some public schools in the locality by supporting them with materials to help learners.
”The items include furniture, books and other learning materials. Besides, the folks and indigenes that reside around our locations have been employed within their appropriate skills.
“More importantly, God has helped us to positively impact the educational pursuit of many learners that have passed through our schools.
“In Africa Community School (ACS), over 109 students have benefited from our internal scholarship and support schemes totaling nearly N70 million and still counting.
“At the other end, in Africa International College (AIC), we have reached out to over 92 students totaling about N90 million. For the two schools, God has enabled us to support the training of more than 200 learners with over N160 million spent on them.
“These are verifiable persons and figures. These were students who, through no fault of theirs, lost one or both parents, while they were with us or children from proven economically disadvantaged families,” she said.
Yakubu said that the school had made it a policy that once a child is admitted into the schools and he/she loses any or both parents, that child must not be withdrawn on the account of inability to pay school fees.
The executive secretary noted that the funds were all internally generated with some support from a few former parents and individuals.
She, therefore, called for support from the government to assist private educational sector to thrive in the business of bringing values out of Nigerian students through creation of an enabling environment.
She said that many times, the private sector provides social amenities to grow their businesses and still contends with multiple taxes from the government.
“The place and role of private schools in our educational system cannot be over emphasised. During the military era, they tried to nationalise many private schools, including mission schools. How did it end?
“Unquantifiable losses were the experiences and we are still paying heavily for the errors.
”In the FCT alone, there are over 2,400 private schools and about 830 public schools. Again, imagine with me, an FCT where there are no privately run schools. What would be the implications all round?,” she added.
In the same vein, the Chairman of the School Board, Mr. Nda Yakubu, pleaded with the government to look into the multiplicity of taxes that are not regulated.
He said that if not checked , the cost would be transferred to parents through hike in fees. (NAN)
