By Moses Okorie
A Catholic priest and chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, in the entire South East Region, Reverend Father Abraham Nwali, has urged government of Ebonyi State to handover all public schools in the state to faith-based mission in order to deliver quality education to children and make them compete favourably with their counterparts in Europe and America where government has no hand in running of schools.
Nwali stated this on Saturday while speaking with our correspondent, shortly after joining, in holy matrimony, the former chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, Ebonyi State chapter, Comrade Solomon Peter Nwiboko and his wife Christabell at Saint Paul Catholic Church, Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
According to him, “The only challenge we have is that we find ourselves in a society where the government finds it difficult to give grants to private and mission schools. Where I schooled and in most places, when the government sees schools that are doing well, they would spend their time and resources to encourage them.
“In overseas, the government has no hand in management of any school; they have handed over all tertiary, down to secondary schools to missions. Anambra State has done same, and we are looking forward that our dear father, His Excellency Right Honourable Francis Ogbonnaya Nwifuru to have the courage to do likewise, and the government would have time to supervise, monitor and spend on them. Government is no doer of any business.
“I went through schools in Rome; in Europe, and also America, I hardly heard of single school being managed by the government; they are purely mission.
“If anyone tells you the public schools are doing well, the person is insincere. Go there and see the children, interview then; go in the morning and stay till afternoon, you see few teachers. Worst is in the rural areas where they have more students with few teachers. The problem is that we know what is right, but lack the political and moral will to do it.
Reverend Father Abraham Nwali revealed that his foundation has graduated over 150 students on scholarship and is currently running a school with 70 percent students on scholarship.
“We have a foundation that has raised more than 150 graduates, we are the best in the state today because, no mission school, no government has 70 percent scholarship . It is only in our school that we have 70 percent of the students on scholarship. The 30 percent are those paying peanut, and those 70 percent are being sponsored by our foundation.
“We have students from the 36 states of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. We do this to let people know that it is possible; granting scholarship to vibrant, intelligent and students from indigent background. No school in Ebonyi State, whether in the mission or government has such universal character.
“Today, I am privileged to be in a place where there is mission school, we have revolutionised it by providing them with the best infrastructure, quality education and good supervision. For 17 years of this parish, this is the first time, they took external examination, WAEC, they were 33 of them and all of them came out excellently; all nine credits.
“What did we do extraordinarily? I embarked on one full term of thorough revisions; went through all the WAEC and JAMB past question papers for 10 years, and we had thorough professioners to teach them, so two months before the exams, the students were confident they would make it and all or them came out successfully. One of them has nine A’sours. You can still have private schools where students can do well”, Father Nwali added.