By Amidu Arije
Mafoluku Senior Grammar School has emerged winner of the 7th Edition of the Academic Excellence Initiative (AEI) annual inter-secondary schools quiz competition having defeated Eric Moore Senior Grammar School in the 5th tie-breaking round of the keenly contested competition.
The 2019 edition of the annual competition was contested by public secondary schools from Lagos State Education District IV and VI, that is, schools from Surulere, Mushin, Isolo and Oshodi.
Only 12 schools made it through the preliminaries to the grand finale held at Unity Senior High School, Oshodi, where students from Mafoluku Senior High School finally emerged the overall winners.
In the 5-round quiz competition, questions were asked in various subjects including Mathematics, English and subjects peculiar to Arts, Science and Commercial.
Speaking on their victory, Miss Onuchukwu Chijindu of Mafoluku Senior Grammar School expressed her deep joy and excitement for making their school proud in the competition.
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She stated that regardless of the fierce nature of the competition, belief in God and team work gave them the edge over other competing schools especially Eric Moore Senior High School which came second in the competition.
Ansar-Ud-Deen Comprehensive Senior High School clinched the bronze medal having defeated co-competitors from Metropolitan Senior College, Isolo, Ikeja Senior Grammar School, Birch Freeman High School and the host school; Unity Senior Secondary School, who all amassed 30 points after the initial five rounds.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Director of Education District VI, Mr. Tosin Akinyemi, commended the initiative and stated that the competition has really impacted so much on students, trying to prepare them ahead of the forthcoming examination.
“I want to say it is kudos to AEI and of course, a blessing for the pupils for having the opportunity to have made it through the processes.
“Government cannot do it alone, government requires partnership and that’s why AEI has partnered with the government on this platform and I had taken my time to study the nature of questions, right from the preliminary to the grand finale, I can say very confidently that the questions are in tandem with the curriculum,” he commented.
Chairman of the occasion and Managing Director of Hajj Mabrur Ventures Limited, Alhaji Abdul Hameed Solate, commended the AEI for its stride at improving education standards in the country.
“The show of academic excellence that has been put to test by schools and individual pupil is an attestation that a lot of effort has been inputted into the educational sector by the AEI and Lagos State Government.
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“They have put a lot of effort to improve the standard of education and I implore them to continue so that it can get better so that we can bring the glory of the past back in the area of education,” he said.
Chairman Planning Committee of the quiz competition, Mr. Biola Yussuff, established that having realised decline in education in Nigeria, the NGO was established to tame it.
He said the initiative has not only been able to achieve this via quiz competition alone as it regularly holds free seminars, free tutorial, career guidance and counseling to secondary school pupils across the country.
“We realised that the academic standard is decreasing and learning environment is not encouraging, hence the need for this initiative to restore quality education.
“Youths will rather go entertainment; but with this initiative, we are making them realise that they need education to strive in any other sector,” he said.
