NGO partners Bwari council to strengthen child education

By Stanley Onyekwere

Ahead of Children’s Day Celebration slated for May, 27, an Abuja based Non- Government Organisation, Sure Smiles Women and Children Advocacy Initiative has perfected plans to assist children in public schools to attain their academic goal.

To this end, the NGO said school bags and books will be distributed in the foundation’s “One child, One bag project”, as pupils from the different public schools in Bwari Area Council have been selected to benefit from the programme.

The Coordinator of the Initiative, Mrs. Chioma Uzo-Udegbunam, who made the revelation during a courtesy visit to the chairman of the council, Hon. Peter Ushafa, in Bwari also said the project is aimed at motivating school children in their academic career.

She added the move is one of the mission statements of the Foundation, as its core focus is to put smiles on the faces of less privileged women and children in the society.

“We want to embark on this project as part of our mission statement to put smiles on the faces of women and children in the FCT. Come May 28, we will distribute over 1, 000 bags and instructional materials to pupils in public schools across the 85 public schools in Bwari Area Council.

“We equally choose this period because we discover that during rainy season like this, some of the pupils struggle to project their books with cellophane bags. Some even battle to use their school uniform to protect their books from being destroyed by rain. We felt, this is not good enough. So we decided to initiates this ‘One bag, One child project’ as our token contribution towards the welfare of these children,” she stated.

The Coordinator affirmed that Bwari Area Council would be used as a pilot scheme for the project, stressing that in subsequent years other Area Councils in the FCT would benefit from the scheme.

Responding, the Chairman commended the NGO for the initiative, noting that for the country to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the issue of education should not be left in the hands of government alone.

The council boss assured of the council’s assistance towards meaningful programmes aimed at alleviating the plight of women and children.

According to him, “I ‘m deeply touched with this initiative because education of our children is no longer the sole responsibility of government. All hands must be on deck to achieve the MDGs.