Government High School Celebrates Golden Jubilee
The Old Students of Government High School, Ilorin, Kwara State, recently converged on the school premises and other locations within the state to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the school.
One of the major highlights of the weeklong celebration which also coincided with the 50th anniversary celebration of the creation of the state was a reception hosted in honour of Old and current students by the family of Alhaji Abdul-Razaq Razaq, the founder of the school, formerly Ilorin College before its take-over by the Kwara State government. Speaking during the ceremony, a former Commissioner of Education and Human Capital and the National President of the ICI/GHS Old Students Association, Alhaji Raji Afolagbe, said the school had contributed greatly to the educational advancement of Kwara North Central and Ilorin in particular.
He added that the greatest achievement of the school is the quality of its Old students who have contributed to the socio-economic development of the country and in other fields of endeavour adding that many of them flew in from Europe and America to be part of the golden jubilee.
He said the founder, Alhaji Abdul-Razaq through his generosity and community service provided opportunity for many people in the state to have access to quality post-primary education with the establishment of the college in 1967.
“The dream of the founding father was to have a seed in quantum that are of quality. His dream was to have a school that will blossom and will go places, and today that dream has come to pass, “he said, while describing him as a man of big vision and a role model.
“He was someone we looked up to. He had lot of students that he was paying their school fees despite the fact that he established the school and even approached some of his friends to give out scholarships.”
A retired Assistant Comptroller General of Customs and the first Senior Prefect of the college, Alhaji Mumini Abdulmalik said the founder of the school inspired him and generation of students to success adding, “he taught us hardwork, integrity and honesty and these are all hallmarks of his own professional and public service career. Ilorin College now GHS prepared us well for life.”
An Old student, Alhaji Saka Isau, and former Secretary to the State Government, described the foresight of the founder as unparalleled saying, “he gave the less priviledged people the opportunity to attend secondary school and today, you can see us. I was Attorney General and former Secretary to the Government of Kwara State. He is my role model and I decided to study law because of him.”
Emphasising on the standard of education in the country, he said it has not has dropped as widely purported, noting that the problem is with the individual students who are not putting efforts into their studies like they should.
“I am telling you sincerely, the kind of teachers they have now, we didn’t have it then. If you go to Government High School, they have graduates who are teachers and we never had that privilege during our time. Most of our teachers then were also secondary school leavers who were probably writing A ’levels and seeking admission to university.”