.Diplomats, others hail innovative education model, urge replication across Nigeria
The first cohort of students from KNOSK N100-a-Day Charity Secondary School, Kuje, Abuja, have officially graduated, marking the milestone with an inspiring education impact story exhibition in the country’s capital.
The event celebrated both the achievements of the pioneer graduates and the school’s impact in making quality education accessible to underserved children.
Through exhibition, storytelling, panel discussion, spoken word, musical displays, and personal testimonies, guests witnessed the tangible results of the initiative’s mission.
The two-day event, co-hosted by the Embassy of Ireland and the United States Diplomatic Mission in Nigeria, was a celebration of resilience, innovation, and community-driven change, pointing to a model that could be replicated countrywide.
Founded in 2019, the school offers students a daily fee of N100 (about 5 cents) and provides free books, uniforms, sportswear, lunch each day, and monthly sanitary pads for girls.
Designed for children from low-income families earning below the Minimum Wage of N70,000 ($46.90), the school relies on donors who help sponsor each child with costs ranging from N80,000 a term to N240,000 per session.
Speaking with The Guardian at the Graduation, Education Impact Story Exhibition, co-founder of the institution, Irene Bangwell, explained that the event was also organised to raise funds in support of the 14 pioneer students as they begin their journey into tertiary education. She noted that while some had already secured scholarships at MIVA University, the African University of Science and Technology, as well as Philomath University, each child had overcome significant challenges.
“They’ve gone through different adversities—loss of parents, living with foster families, being displaced—and then the school took them in to provide accommodation. All 14 of them have 14 unique stories of difficulty and resilience, ensuring their academics never suffered despite their struggles. I’d like to think that these children, when given support, responded by fulfilling their part of the bargain—staying disciplined, studying hard, working hard, and showing good conduct. They are very deserving of whatever support is extended to them today,” she said.
She explained that the aim is to broaden the school’s reach, giving more underprivileged students and underserved communities access to education.
“I want to see KNOSK School in many more localities, many more states, because we have a model that works,” an elated Bangwell said. “We’ve done this for six years, and we’re just starting our seventh school year, so I feel like we have a framework that we can put anywhere and get the right outcomes. People just need to look out for the next announcement”.
Bangwell added that the event serves as a powerful reminder of what can be achieved when communities rally behind education. According to her, the milestone reflects the impact of collective support and innovative funding models, with donors’ support making life-changing opportunities for the students possible.
She also paid glowing tribute to donors that sponsored and kept the pioneer students in school in the last six years, including Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Reliance HMO, International Community School, Pillars of Love School, individual donors among others.
Also, co-founder of KNOSK School, Kingsley Bangwell, revealed that the school currently serves 180 students, though space limitations have forced it to turn away more than 500 applicants.
He called for greater government intervention, urging policymakers to design targeted programmes for underserved communities. According to him, such communities face multiple barriers—from poor nutrition to insecurity—that threaten learning outcomes and require deliberate solutions to ensure access to quality education.
In their separate goodwill messages, the Ambassador of Denmark to Nigeria, Jens Ole Bach Hansen; Second Secretary and Head of Cooperation, Embassy of Ireland in Nigeria, Benita Hickson as well as Director General, National Orientation Agency (NOA), Lanre Issa-Onilu, commended the resilience of the students and the innovative funding model that made their education possible. They encouraged the graduates to see themselves as ambassadors of hope and urged stakeholders to replicate the KNOSK approach in other parts of the country to bridge educational gaps.
Sharing his experience, one of the pioneer students, Solver Marjorie Pada, disclosed that he cleared all his WAEC and NECO exams, scored 241 in this year’s Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). Pada says he plans to study Software Engineering at the Federal University of Technology, Minna and yet to get a sponsor as of the time of filing this report.
He encouraged children from underprivileged backgrounds to keep pursuing their dreams.
He described his journey at KNOSK as life-changing, noting that the opportunity to receive consistent education, alongside the support of teachers and peers, had given him the confidence to pursue his dream of becoming a tech innovator.
Other graduates echoed similar sentiments, expressing gratitude to the school and its donors for providing not just an education, but also a sense of stability and belonging. Their testimonies reinforced the message at the heart of the exhibition: with the right support, children from even the most challenging backgrounds can rise above adversity and excel academically and personally.
