Ministry, NAPPS commend Kellogg’s Superstars scholarship awards

At the presentation ceremony of awards to the 50 young winners in the Kellogg’s Superstars competition, majority of who were invited to Lagos along with their parents, Kellogg Tolaram Nigeria, makers of leading Nigerian breakfast cereal, had commendations for touching the lives of the ordinary Nigerian child.

The Director-General, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, said, “I want specifically to pour encomiums on the directors of Kellogg’s Tolaram, imbued with rare foresight aimed particularly at making the whole child, by not only rewarding pupils through scholarships but by also investing heavily in educational infrastructure, educational partnerships, literacy commitment and all other primary needs that ensure brighter opportunities for the Nigerian child.

“It is crystal clear that Kellogg’s Tolaram essay competition and reward initiative were borne out of passion and will no doubt contribute to the ever-expanding educational status of Lagos State and Nigeria.”

Kellogg’s Superstars contest is a school-based essay writing competition designed for primary school pupils to sharpen their writing skills while also bringing out the creative uniqueness in them. The contest which began in March 2019 reached out to more than 1.8 million pupils at approximately 12,000 schools in Rivers, Lagos, and Oyo States. The pupils were tasked to exhibit their writing talent on the topic ‘What Makes You a Kellogg’s Superstar’ from which 50 outstanding pupils emerged.

The major highlight of the ceremony was when the young Kellogg’s superstars read their essays to the audience which comprised of parents, representatives of their schools, Ministry of Education officials, and other dignitaries.

A member of the Federal House of Representatives, Hon. (Mrs.) Tolu Akande- Sadipe, said, according to UNICEF, one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children is in Nigeria. She also noted that even though primary education is officially free and compulsory, about 10.5 million of the country’s children aged 5- 14 years are not in school and only 61 per cent of 6 – 11-year olds regularly attend primary school.

She, however, explained that some of the solutions would be for government, private organisations and individuals to come together to ensure free early childhood education (nursery and primary levels) for the underprivileged children, promotion of scholarship programmes while also training and improving teachers’ welfare.

“Kudos to the management of Kellogg Tolaram for this scholarship programme and its numerous other investments on educational growth,” she said.

Also president, National Association of Private Schools (NAPPS), Lagos State Chapter, Mr. Wasiu Adumadeyin, said the impact is certainly far-reaching on the economy when corporate organizations get involved in educational support, especially at the elementary stage where the foundation becomes undeniably important.

While echoing Hon. Akande-Sadipe, General Manager, Kellogg Tolaram, Mrs. Vani Malik, said the country is still battling with the challenge of out-of-school children, noting that it was why initiated the Kellogg’s Superstars scholarship by way of the brand contributing its quota to Nigeria’s economic growth.

“Kellogg’s Superstars programme follows a holistic developmental approach, which begins with making sure children have the best start to their day by getting a complete breakfast option through Kellogg’s various cereal variants while also encouraging them to identify and improve their inherent academic skills in the area of writing,” she stated.