NGO holds scholarship award exams for Lagos public schools
By Millicent Ifeanyichukwu
Sweetthinkers, a non-profit- organisation, on Thursday organised stage one of its Academic Excellence Award examination for pupils in public primary schools in all local governments areas of Lagos State.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the initiative is to support and improve academic excellence in government-owned schools and give scholarships to winners of the competition.
The organisation tested the candidates in Mathematics, English, Science and General Knowledge and it was conducted by officials of the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB).
Ten candidates from each of the LGAs with 26 marks and above will qualify for the stage two of the exercise scheduled for September.
A representative of Sweetthinkers, Media Department, Nnenna Chinedu, said that the project was targeted at elevating and projecting academic excellence among pupils within government schools in Lagos State.
Chinedu noted that the organisation was passionate about seeing every child, particularly in public schools thrive, regardless of their socio-economic background.
“We observed that there is always more focus on private schools, so, we decided to spotlight the government schools, create and give the pupils the platform to compete among themselves, ” she said.
She explained that the examination would be divided into four segments, saying, “This is the preliminary stage; 10 pupils with the highest score from the ongoing examination will move to the second stage, third stage and then the grand finale.”
Chinedu disclosed that there would be educational scholarships for the first runner-up, second runner-up and winners of the examination at the grand finale in 2026.
Earlier, Mrs Adeniji-Arron Abidemi, Desk Officer, Ikeja Local Government Education Authority, which was one of the examination’s centre, lauded the initiative.
Abidemi said that the exercise would expose the pupils to phases of examinations and preparedness.
She noted that the candidates were restricted to pupils in primaries four and five, as they still had ample time in the school, unlike the current primary six that would progress to secondary schools in September.
She expressed delight on the turn out and performances of the pupils.
“ We told the schools to present two best students from each of the 31 selected schools and they all did well, but we picked the best 10.
“We are very happy with Sweetthinkers for bringing this initiative to the grassroots and extend this opportunity to our students; this is not common in public schools, and we say a big thank you and they should keep it up.”
The officer encouraged the pupils to see themselves as winners, adding that there would be other similar opportunities to compete.
The participating schools include Lagos State Model Primary School; GRA Primary School; Army Model Primary School; Central Primary School.
Others are Ikeja Primary School; St Peter Primary School; Onilekere School; Bola Memorial Primary School, among others. (NAN)(www nannews.ng)
Edited by Esenvosa Izah/Joe Idika
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