Harness old students’ resources to drive education, EIDWN tells FG

The Educational Initiative for Development in Western Nigeria (EIDWN) has challenged the Federal Government to harness the resources within the Old Students Associations as a veritable way of driving the education sector in Nigeria.

This was part of the communiqué issued at the end of the 2022 Alma Mater Day Celebration, with the theme, ‘My Team’s Contract’, held in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital.

The gathering attracted elder statesmen and leaders of various old students associations in the South West.

In his remarks, the Managing Trustee of EIDWN, Adebowale Thompson, said the sorry state of schools nationwide “is evident of government inability to adequately fund, manage and sustain the schools.”

He therefore added that funding and management through Old Students Associations would assist in rediscovering the lost glory and reposition the schools for the challenges of the future.

In his remarks, the President General of Abeokuta Grammar School Old Boys Association (AGSOBA), Sunday Oduntan, reiterated the commitment of the Old Students Associations in supporting governments at various levels in the development and sustaining of quality education in the country.

In a communique issued at the end of the one-day event, stakeholders implored government to hold annual retreats for conference of old students and alumni associations with a view to collating and harmonizing the aspirations of old students for their alma mater.

“Government should recognize that Old Students Association’s resources are easier to harness, more reliable and shorn of stringent conditions attached to other donor funds.

“It is believed where such retreats hold ahead of the annual budget presentation exercise, the government can actually challenge the conference and secure definite figures for projects and other key intervention in the schools,” it read.

They also frowned at the encroachment of school-land by land grabbers for accommodation, saying that this has further compromised the integrity of school sites as intended in the master plan.