Comprehensive High School, Igbodo in Ika North East Local Government Area of Delta State, Monday 4/1/2021 took delivery of sets of school chairs and desks from the Old Students Association of the school.
The furniture, numbering three hundred were part of the four hundred and fifty sets of chairs and tables proposed for the school by the Comprehensive High School Old Students Association, CHISOSA.
A member of the Board of Trustees and Lecturer, University of Lagos, Dr. Dumebi Ideh, said the association had embarked on fact-finding visits to the school where it was observed that there was an urgent need for student’s desks and chairs in the school.
Dr Ideh who is of the 1985 graduating set, expressed optimism that the donated furniture will enhance the quality of teaching and learning in the institution.
“This project was necessitated following the decay of infrastructure due to poor government funding. The assessment carried out by the old students some months ago saw the enumeration of problem areas leading to the intervention towards the rehabilitation of some of the dilapidated structures by the old students. In order of priority, the school management requested our urgent intervention in the provision of chairs and tables”.
“As we officially present these chairs and tables today, we use this opportunity to request the Delta State Government to continue to support the development of rural public schools for the benefit of the people that live within the locality.
What we are celebrating today is the unity of purpose and friendship. We, therefore, call on other Old Students that are yet to join the association to rise up to the occasion by joining us and contributing to the development of our Alma mater”, Dr Ideh said.
Continuing, the BOT member stated “We will continue to do more to address issues that need our attention in the School as we are very proud of our School and will do everything humanly possible to halt the infrastructural decay in the School and uplift the standard of learning in the institution. We encourage the students to take their studies more seriously and remain focused as education is life and it is the main road to achieving your full potentials in life. As we thank God for this success, it is equally important to express our heartfelt appreciation to the Chairman and members of the project committee for a job well done and for delivering the project within the agreed timelines”.
A former Head Girl of the school, now Senior Lecturer, College of Education, Agbor, Mrs Augustina Ebenuwa, while handing over the furniture she acknowledged the commitment of members of CHISOSA towards restoring the lost glory of Comprehensive High School, Igbodo.
Mrs Ebenuwa explained that the school was known for its standard and academic prowess, maintaining that it was a springboard that saw many old students excelling in the various human endeavours they found themselves after leaving the College.
Another proud product of the school who was a Class Prefect, from classes One to Five, and Member Project Committee of the Association, Mr Martins Okocha, commended members for painstakingly putting resources together to procure the donated school furniture.
Mr Okocha who currently is an employee with a multinational oil firm stressed the need for the students to make good use of the Furniture and guard them against vandalism.
The Chief Inspector of Education, Ika North East Local Government Area, Mrs Juliet Sorokwu who was the Special Guest of Honor at the ceremony,
commended the Comprehensive High School, Igbodo Old Student’s Association, CHISOSA, for coming to the aide of its alma mater.
She paid glowing tributes to individuals and bodies that had assisted in upgrading the infrastructures in schools across the state, explaining that government can not do it alone, hence the constant appeal for the intervention of critical stakeholders, including Old Students Associations in improving standards in the institutions.
Mrs Sorokwu assured the old students that the commissioner for secondary and basic education in no time will send a letter of gratitude to the old students for partnering with government in developing the educational sector.
The Principal of Comprehensive High School, Igbodo, Mr Matthias Okolie, commended the quality of the furniture, and assured of their judicious use, even as he appealed for more support from the Old Students’ body to their alma mater.
The Chairman, Parents-Teachers Association of the College, Mr John Ugbaja expressed gratitude to CHISOSA for the furniture, saying that the gesture had helped in addressing a major issue in the school.
Some of the students who spoke, including the Senior Prefect, Master Kelvin Iloba, also commended members of the association for giving back to the institutions they had their foundation and urged them to remain good ambassadors of the school.
