The Destiny Trust has launched a new block of classrooms and digital learning space for children in Abegede, Idi-Ori, Dongo and other surrounding riverine communities in Ibeju-Lekki Local Government Area of Lagos State.
The project is aimed at expanding access to education for out-of-school children in hard-to-reach communities where distance, poor infrastructure, limited classrooms, teacher shortages, low internet connectivity and lack of electricity continue to prevent many children from learning.
Speaking at the event, Co-founder of The Destiny Trust, Abimbola Ojenike, said the project marked a new chapter for children in the affected communities.
According to him, while the new school block is important, the digital learning space represents a broader effort to use technology to take quality education to children in remote and underserved locations.
Ojenike added: “A new chapter has opened for the children of Abegede, Idi-Ori, Dongo and other surrounding riverine communities of Ibeju-Lekki. We opened a new school block with a digital learning space, but the most important part of this for us is not the physical school building.
“This also houses a digital learning space, an example of what we are working to set up in many remote communities. With the number of out-of-school children we have today and the barriers faced by different categories of children who are not in school, it is quite certain that we can’t take education to the last mile without the support of technology.”
Ojenike explained that The Destiny Trust’s digital learning spaces are designed as channels for bringing quality learning resources to children in locations where there is low internet connectivity and no electricity.
Through its learning platform, OurSchool Africa, the non-profit organisation is providing multimedia learning devices pre-loaded with video lessons covering the Nigerian basic education curriculum.
Ojenike noted that the lessons are designed to support classroom teaching and can be accessed with or without the internet.
“We are providing multimedia learning devices pre-loaded with video lessons covering the Nigerian basic education curriculum. We are making what is taught in the regular classrooms available through our learning platform, OurSchool Africa, which can be used with or without internet,” he said.
Ojenike revealed that every digital learning space would be powered by solar inverters to ensure that children in communities without reliable electricity are not excluded from learning.
“The idea is to make sure there is access to learning. And that is critical. Nigeria has an almost 200,000 shortage of teachers at basic education level alone. Imagine what it would be if millions of children still out of school are brought into school,” he said.
The co-founder stressed that the new school building is also expected to expand the capacity of the school to receive more children, especially as The Destiny Trust continues to enrol out-of-school children from riverine communities and support them to remain in school.
“For many children in these communities, access to education requires crossing the Lagos Lagoon daily. The organisation currently provides a school boat that transports over 120 children and teachers across several riverine communities to school and back” he stated.
Ojenike said the daily risk and difficulty faced by the children informed the organisation’s decision to make the school environment more dignified, safe and inspiring.
“We are intentional about making the classroom a place children really love to be.
“For the children who cross the lagoon daily to access school, school has to be worth the daily risk of getting to school, in addition to any promise of a better future through education.
“We built a school that inspires them to dream of what is possible far beyond the picture of poverty that is more familiar in some communities on the other side of the lagoon,” he said.
The new facility also provides toilets and water for pupils and teachers, addressing a major sanitation challenge in the school community.
Ojenike said The Destiny Trust’s work in the communities was driven by the belief that education for vulnerable children should not be treated as charity, but as a matter of justice and public responsibility.
“We are intentional about telling the children that they are important, that they deserve the best, that education is justice to them; and indeed a right.
“Putting them in school and supporting them to stay in school is not charity. It is a duty we owe them as a people for our future,” he said.
The Chairman of Ibeju-Lekki Local Government, Engr. Abdullahi Sesan Olowa, who was represented by the Education Supervisor, Mr. Sodiq Agbaje, commended The Destiny Trust for its work in communities along the Eyin Osa area.
He said he had seen the organisation’s digital learning space in Arapagi Oloko and noted that the newly launched facility was even more impressive.
Olowa praised The Destiny Trust for its significant investment in the education of children in Lagos and congratulated the benefiting communities.
He also reaffirmed the commitment of the local government to education and welcomed continued collaboration with The Destiny Trust in expanding access to learning in more communities through digital learning channels.
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