A federal lawmaker, Hon Idu Igariwey, represents Afikpo North and South federal constituencies of Ebonyi state. Recently, he gave a new lease of life to schools in his constituency in a show of love that put smiles on the faces of pupils. AMARACHUKWU EGWUAGHA reports.
Children are leaders of tomorrow; therefore, are said to be the future generations. To that extent, the need to catch them young becomes very important in all aspect of their lives especially in education.This is why the need for a quality education learning environment becomes very important.A lawmaker, Hon Idu Igariwey, who appeared to have understood this singular loophole decided to reach out to primary schools in his constituency of Afikpo North/South with a view to making the pupils have same experience like those in the city.
Donation of reading equipments to primary schools
Therefore an having taken all the loophole into consideration, Hon Igariwey donated thousands of school material including modern reading desk and chairs for pupils and teachers as well as donation of books to about five primary school in the constituency. The benefiting schools include Mgbom Primary School in Afikpo North local government area, Nkpoghoro Primary School, Egbebu Central School in Afikpo South and Ozizza Central School in Afikpo North local government area, among others.Donating the materials he said, “We have five primary schools we’ve decided to improve their standard and conditions of learning. We selected these schools from Edda, Afikpo South and Afikpo North local government areas of which Mgbom Primary School is one of them.”We are presenting reading tables, writing tables, chairs and books for the pupils. Part of our goals is to strengthen the primary education of our young children. We believe that it is good to go to school; we also believe that there is a way a school would be that it would be very difficult for pupils to go to school, let alone learning in such schools.“Education starts in primary school. If you didn’t pass through primary school, you would not go to a secondary school. This is why all my focus is on primary school because focusing on primary school means laying good foundation in the education sector. “If you are not taught in primary school, you cannot appreciate anything in a secondary school. This is why I decided that the way we suffered in primary schools in our own time should not be what our children would go through in their own time, it shouldn’t be so.”I am so committed more than ever to uplift the standard of learning of public schools in Afikpo North/ South constituencies and in the strength of that, today, I’ve fulfilled my promise to extend the donation of educational materials like I did in Enohia Itim Primary School, Afikpo on January 11, 2021. Subsequently we’ll capture more schools to see that we give a boost to learning among our children,” he said.
Teachers, pupils jubilate
So far, investigation shows that this gesture by the lawmaker has awakened the learning attitudes of pupils especially knowing that they would no longer sit on the flour, but on a proper reading desk and chair.
A school director speaks
Mrs Egonna Ude, director, Egbebu Central School, Ekoli Edda, Afikpo South local government area of the state commended the lawmaker for the gesture, describing it as first of its kind in the school. She said, “I appreciate this young man a lot because he is not the only person that has gone to that House of Representatives; others went to the National Assembly from this constituency and we did not experience what we have experienced from him. It is only somebody that has a humane heart that can do this. He has shown us example of a good leader. “I know it is God that directed this action he has performed in this school. The good God would give him more vision to perform more than this next time and I promise him as a head teacher here that I would handle all these things he has given us with care so that he would do more for us. “He should not fear; let him continue to do good. If God is with him, nobody would do him any harm. It is human being that is development and when you develop human being, you have developed a nation.”Uka Orji, a primary six pupil of Egbebu Central School Ekoli Edda explained that the school was one of the schools in the federal constituency that lacked educational materials with pupils sitting on bare floor for learning. Some of the pupils would bring mats from their houses to sit in their class rooms. Some carry their mother’s kitchen chairs to schools to enable them feel comfortable and receive their lessons from their teachers.“We are glad today that our suffering is now a thing of the past through our representative in the National Assembly, Hon Idu Igariwey who has given us seats to relax and receive our studies. These seats are very good and they would motivate us to study hard and do well in our studies. We are grateful to God for using this our lawmaker to come to our rescue. We have suffered a lot and God has used Hon Idu Igariwey to wipe our tears. We pray God to continue to bless him so that he would do more for us.”Another pupil, Precious Ama, said, “I am very happy for these seats Hon Idu Igariwey brought for us. Before, we used sit on bare floor for our studies but these seats would make us not to be sitting on the floor again to receive our lesson because sitting on bare floor was affecting our health.“At times, we would be feeling serious pains all over our bodies after sitting on the floor and it make us not to be too strong. We are happy for this kind gesture by our representative and we owe him for this. The only thing we can do to make him happy is to take good care of these seats and also do well in our studies so that he will continue to remember us.”
