Abuja Rotary offers scholarship to 60 displaced Chibok children

THE Rotary Club of Abuja and the Aunty Jumoke Education Foundation have offered full scholarship to 60 children displaced as a result of the insurgency in the North East.

The 60 children were selected from the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp in PEGI Community, Kuje-Abuja. Forty-seven primary school pupils and 13 secondary school students benefitted from the project.

The scholarship scheme covers tuition, school bags, exercise books, school uniforms and other school charges for the children, many of whom have been out of school for two years. The Club has also pledged to continue to sponsor the students every year until they are re-integrated back to their home communities.

President of the Rotary Club of Abuja, Mrs. Olajumoke Okpo, appealed to members of the public to partner with the Club to provide sponsorship for more of the children.

She said: “According to Dr. Suess, the more you read the more things you will learn and the more places you will go. In the Rotary calendar, the month of September is the Basic Education and Literacy month where literacy projects are carried out across the world. Coincidentally, September is the beginning of a new session in schools especially in Nigeria.

“Basic Education and Literacy is one of Rotary’s Six Areas of Focus. Rotary believes that Basic Education and Literacy is essential for reducing poverty, improving health, encouraging community and economic development and promoting peace. If all children in the low income class left school with basic reading skills, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty.”

On how the project was conceived, she stressed: “The Rotary Club of Abuja (the Grandfather’s Club) was approached by the Aunty Jumoke Education Foundation to collaborate with it in the yearly sponsorship of some children displaced children to school until normalcy returns to their community.

The Board of Directors of the Club approved and visited this community and then decided to sponsor 60 of the children at the cost of N10, 000 per child for the 2015/2016 Academic Year.”