13 October 2009
Davidson Njoku — For the hundreds of radiant old girls of Anglican Girls Grammar School, Awkunanaw, Enugu, who assembled at Our Saviour's Church Hall, Onikan, Lagos last Saturday, the task of uplifting their alma mata infrastructurally, is a responsibility seldom equaled in gravity. It is a task considered by them as grand necessity, and were they to fail in this imperative assignment,they would fail not only themselves,but also generations unborn.
The thanksgiving and fund raising was an occasion in which the old girls recalled with nostalgia how they wore the school uniform and badge with pride, their comportment which compelled admiration and respect as well as the painstaking selection process based on merit and excellence.;the subsequent rigorous development of the body, mind and character as well as the rich heritage and noble tradition of the institution. It was fond memories of a culture of integrity, diligence, moral and physical hygiene which were the trademarks of Anglican Girls Grammar School.
At the thanksgiving religious service which preceeded the fund raising and took place at Our Saviour's Church, the old girls and all other people at the service were admonished to embrace the spirit of David. It is a spirit that fears no Goliat and makes giants to appear ordinary in addition to overcoming things that may appear impossible including projects such as the N150 million endowment fund embarked upon by the old girls.
In a welcome address by the Association's president Dr. Chinelo Amaka Chizea, she chronicled a long chain of infrastructural decay engulfing the Anglican Girls Grammar School and lamented that today, the college is hardly the 'primus inter pares" of yesterday years. It is no longer the college of first for pupils owing to whelming infrastructural decay. Gone also is the fervent desire to top the common entrance examination and be admitted into the hallowed portals of Anglican Girls Grammar School.
Said the President, "When the Anglican Church set up the school in 1961 (48 years ago), they had a vision' to educate and train young Nigerian girls in the pursuit of excellence in all areas including high academic performance, sound discipline and a solid Christian background. In 1965, the first set of 28 girls sat for and obtained 100 per cent success in West African School Certificate/General Certificate of Education examinations. The high academic standard and the foundation for excellence in all areas, envisioned by the founders, had been set. The second set, in 1966, comprising 60 girls, also scored 100 per cent success in the same examinations. . The second set, in 1966, comprising 60 girls, also scored 100 per cent success in the same examinations. The Anglican Church adequately provided everything that was needed to provide a sound and broad based education and training. They provided adequate infrastructure, personnel, a rich curriculum and broad co-curricula activities. Our curriculum, for instance, included Latin, Music, Oral English, Etiquette and Mothercraft. The school had become a reference point and it became the wish of every parent, East of the Niger, for their daughter to attend AGGS, Awkunanaw, or a school like it.
"Then came the civil war (1967-1970), after which the provision and development of infrastructure in the school have never been the same. The situation now is that the over 300 per cent increase in student population is using 1967 archaic and dilapidated facilities and infrastructure meant for a maximum of 300 girls. Needless to say that, the ideals of the founders cannot be attained under such conditions."
Dr. Chizea emphasised that all old girls of AGGS owe a significant part of the foundation of their success in life to AGGS which according to her is a truly good old school where character, personality and leadership traits were given priority.
The present condition of AGGS, she said, is a sad stain on their individual accomplishments and a conspicuous reminder of their collective duty to the institution and the society. The institution is today living on yesterday's triumphs and holding desperately to the vanishing vestiges of greatness.
Among the key areas of need enumerated by her, are library development, electricity generation, portable water through decent borehole, music school, school hall, modern toilets and bathroom, sick bay, sports centre, staff quarters, Biology laboratory, communication, laundering, roads and drainage, periments fencing, integrated science laboratory introductory technology laboratory dinning hall and kitchen, information and communication, ICT laboratory, sports facilities, etcetera.
"My initial project" she disclosed, "was the provision of potable water. Then I took a trip to Enugu to meet and have discussions with the Management of the school (we had been communicating by telephone). I hadn't been to the school in over a quarter of a century. When I got to Anglican Girls' Grammar School, Awkunanaw, Enugu, the school where I spent five wonderful, happy years, the school that gave me a second mother, Mrs. Joy Ogbenyeanu Muo, and nurtured me, the school that gave me a lot of adopted sisters, the school that widened my scope of aunties (as my teachers were and still are to me), I wept as a result of the state of disrepair and dilapidation that I walked into.
"As I walked round the school compound with the principal of the Senior School , Mrs. Eze, our dream, our vision, and our aim became clearer and our objectives became critical. Provision of potable water was no longer the only need. There emerged other critical fundamental needs for a successful bording school, and these have to be addressed immediately. I asked myself a number of questions. Do I have to provide water for young girls, future mothers and leaders, to continue to bath in an open space? Do I have to provide water for the kitchen staff to continue to cook with tripods and firewood? Do I have to provide water when there are no toilet facilities attached to classrooms, offices, laboratories and other structures? The questions went on and on. Gradually, a N10 million project was expanded to a N50 million project and then to a N150 million Endowment Fund, which is an initial phase of our first 5 - year Development Plan which is being formally launched right here."
The fundraising began with choruses and praises, followed by an opening prayer and the singing of the National Anthem. There was also the AGGS Anthem, speech/presentation by "Project Champions" which involved everyone that shares the desire to move AGGS forward through the N150 million fund raising. In the course of these presentations, there were admonitions, and advices by numerous people on the way forward for the school and its development.
The high point of the event was the launch of the endowment fund during which the old girls and their husbands as well as friends of AGGS stood up to be counted through impressive financial contributions, pledges and moral support.
The occasion served as a grand re-union of the old girls. Sumptuous dishes and choice drinks flowed freely surplus. Good music by a stage band added more glamour to what was certainly a remarkable show of excellent taste, good organisation, high vision and enviable comradia. A beautiful rendition of a choral song "Onye abo" (Lazy person) by the old girls choir filled the mind of most of the old girls with nostalgia. It was a popular school song in their days and is used to chastise the lazy students who are not willing to do anything to help themselves and often tries to cut corners or reap where they did not sow. The song generated ripples of excitement across the hall.
Some of the executives of the Association told Champion Scholar that their immediate vision is to recapture the glory of AGGS and rescue the present and upcoming generation of students. Over the long term, the mission of the Association is to build a strong organisation able to advance the ideals of the college for the transformation of the society.
In order to achieve these laudable goals, the old girls intend to get involved in the formulation of policies and in their implement as they affect the school. They also plan to build financial and coherently project their common ideals to the larger society.
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