The Queen’s School Old Girls Association, Set of 1967-1971/73, on Wednesday officially handed over a block of six classrooms to the school in a ceremony attended by Mrs. Bisi Akin-Alabi, who represented Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State in Ibadan, the state capital.
President of the set, Mrs. Abimbola Dada, said the gesture was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its admission in the school founded in 1952. She stressed that the project cost N10m, which was contributed by members in Nigeria and the Diaspora. The project is complete with toilet facilities for teachers and pupils.
Dada said, “To mark the 50th anniversary of the coming together of a set of young girls at Queen’s School, Ede in January 1967, our movement to Ibadan in the second term and our sojourn together till 1971 and 1973, we decided to celebrate God’s mercy over us by embarking on this project.
“Our set is unique in many ways. Sixty six of us were admitted to the school when it was in Ede before we moved to Ibadan in the second term. So we were the last form one pupils admitted by the school in Ede and the first form one pupils in Ibadan.”
Dada pointed out that the planning of the project commenced in 2016 with the appointment of a committee headed by Mrs. Taiwo Katibi, adding that the mission was to identify suitable project for the school.
She said, “Dr Bisi Egejuru, who was a set ahead of us, pointed out that there was an old, dilapidated and abandoned block of six classrooms that we could renovate and adopt as a set project. Contractors were invited and quotations of between N12m and N15m were presented.
“We had only N500,000 in the account, but we quickly raised N6m by May 2017. The cost was later reduced to about N10m. Tutu Ogunnaike, who is the leader of the 50th anniversary celebration planning committee, did a great job along with other members of the committee.”
Also, Akin-Alabi said the Oyo State Model System Intervention was designed to improve on the standard of education in the state and that it had attracted interest from other states in Nigeria.
Commending the set for the gesture, while advising the current pupils of Queen’s School to make good use of the facility, she said, “We have about 30 pupils that have invented academic games. The Director-General of the Nigeria Export Promotion Council, Olusegun Awolowo, has met the pupils and promised to assist them.
“We have a digital literacy centre where pupils are given further education. Every pupil has different talents and abilities. While some are academically gifted, others are excellent in other areas. Oyo State is now rewarding teachers in every school where the WAEC result is above average,” she said.
