EDUCATION Alumni unveils school feeding programme, website for GSS Kuru
The alumni association of one of the oldest schools in Plateau State, Government Science Secondary School, Kuru, has launched a student feeding programme in the school aimed at improving the nutritional needs of the students.
Bags of rice, beans, corn, cornmeal, crates of eggs and tubers of yam were presented to the school by the 1983 set of Kuru Old Students Association (KOSA) to kick-start the programme for the remaining few weeks before the school closed for holiday.
Chairman of Set ‘83, Miyen Swomen, told Daily Trust at the launch of the school feeding programme and website for the school that the set had partnered with some organisations to support the school in various initiatives.
He said the feeding programme will start with providing one hot meal at lunch, adding that, “the programme will commence fully next year with one of the corporate organisations providing one hot meal which is expected to grow with time into two hot meals a day.”
“One of the key problems of education today is nutrition. You will see that most students in schools have stunted growth because of poor nutrition. We want to contribute to the learning process by helping the children in their nutrition,” he said.
Daily Trust reports that in its first reunion last year, the set provided dining tables and chairs for the students as well as introduced the use of cooking gas to the school kitchen.
Later that year, set ‘79 provided bunks for some of the hostels. Set ‘81 had earlier this year also provided classroom desks.
Set ‘83 in its second reunion also unveiled the KOSA global website which was launched by the national president of the association, Justice Ibrahim Auta, who was represented by the former KOSA president, Sunday Fehintola.
The alumni are expected to run the website with the school management and it will be transferred to the school when its e-library is launched in February next year.
Daily Trust observed that features of the website included latest news and pictures about the school as well as information about subjects taught in each class and the names of the teachers responsible for teaching each subject.
“From their SS2, the students can fill a form on the website to get drafted into KOSA and with time, there will be room for teachers to interact with parents and post results,” said Swomen while scrolling through the website.
Recognising that government is deficient in financial support to the school, the set’s chairman said the number one objective was to make sure that the school is run properly and would gladly partner with government to achieve the goal.
“The future of education in Nigeria is in public private partnership which is the model we will adopt. Together, we can do good things for schools like this so that children are well taken care of, well nourished which is something we enjoyed during our time,” he said.
The school principal, Anna Selchum, lamented that parents had been responsible for almost all the children’s needs in the school adding that, “during your time, government did a lot for the school but now it is different.
“The parents provide almost everything and but for that, the school cannot move forward,” she said.
She thanked the alumni for coming to their aid and urged the students to use the opportunity to interact with the old students and learn from them.
Prof. Kabiru Sabitu the National Vice President of KOSA and Professor of Medicine presented a paper on ‘Ebola Outbreak Response in Nigeria’ while Mohammed Liman, an alumnus presented a paper on immigration and security.
Established in 1941, the all boys’ science school has produced notable Nigerians in various fields including former governor of Plateau State Jonah Jang, former comptroller general of Nigerian Customs and now Gbong Gwom Jos, Jacob Gyang Buba, former minister of defence and now Ponzhi Tarok, Domkat Bali among others.
However, the school had been facing numerous infrastructural challenges until the alumni stepped in last year and began to provide succour.