No fewer than 95 out-of-school and teenage mothers who were recruited by a non-governmental organisation in Osun State, Value Re-Orientation for Community Enhancement (VARCE), Osogbo, Osun State, are set to graduate next week.
The NGO had in 2023 scouted for 100 girls whose parents could not afford to pay their school fees in their former schools and had dropped out, enrolled them in a special school known as VARCE Girls’ Learning Hub, and offered them quality science education and technological training.
Announcing their graduation plan while addressing a press conference in Osogbo on Thursday, the Executive Director of VARCE, Ademola Adebisi, said the graduation of the first cohort of students from the VARCE Girls’ Learning Hub marked a historic milestone in education and empowerment for out-of-school girls in Osun State.
According to him, the female students recorded remarkable achievements and excellent grades in the just concluded West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
He said a total of 96 girls will be graduating next week, explaining that “86 out of 96 graduates earned a minimum of 9 credits, including Mathematics and English Language. 89 graduates obtained at least 6 distinctions in their results.”
The VARCE Executive Director stated that the achievement is especially remarkable as many of the girls could barely read or write when they joined the Hub in 2023.
Beyond academics, he disclosed that the graduates have also been equipped with 21st-century digital skills, stressing that “they can now code, develop applications, and design websites, positioning them for future careers in technology and innovation.”
He said the girls, most of whom are from humble homes, have been transformed into technological gurus and that even after their graduation, they would still be monitored and supported to get to the peak of their digital careers.
Already, Adebisi disclosed that 12 of the 96 graduating students have secured admission into Adeleke University, Ede, adding that the NGO is looking at how it could partner with the university with a view to awarding university scholarships for the brilliant girls.
In his remarks, Mr. Dare Adeoye, the Coordinator of the Learning Hub, said no fewer than 50 of the girls would have become wayward or even married wrongly if the free education and digital opportunities did not come their way.
On the selection process, Adeoye remarked that the vulnerable girls were found in environments in Osogbo and notable adjoining towns, adding that these disadvantaged girls that might have dropped out of school because their parents could not pay their school fees at their former schools were co-opted in the learning hub, thus providing a second chance for the girls.
“More than 50 of them would have married wrongly if not for this programme. Their parents don’t have the means to pay their school fees in their former schools. But now, the stories of these former out-of-school girls have changed for the better through this transformative and humanitarian programme.
In separate interviews with some of the graduating girls, the students recounted how they were selected for the two-year programme, saying they have learned a lot from computer knowledge, to coding and science.”
