Uchechukwu Nnaike
The Principal of Queen’s College, Yaba, Lagos, Mrs. Lami Amodu, has reiterated her desire to rekindle the spirit of excellence among staff and students of the school as part of the new vision that will define her tenure as the 23rd principal of the school.
Amodu, who made this known during the 89th founder’s day ceremony of the school on Monday, regretted that the school experienced poor performance for some time as a result of inadequate teachers, poor funding, students’ attitude, among others.
She said the students’ performance has since improved due to some measures her administration adopted to instill in the staff and students the culture of excellence. “We discovered that the students lacked discipline and were not reading so we got them to sit and read, we also instilled discipline in them.”
For the teachers, she said she used to monitor them in the classrooms and inspect their lesson notes and teaching materials; these measures made them more dedicated to their duties.
The principal said part of her change mission of rekindling the torch of excellence is all about how the youths of today can go beyond academic rote learning to acquire skills that will prepare them for sustaining life-long learning so that they can be their own employers. She said the plans have been articulated in a proposal and submitted to the Ministry of Education and is receiving the minister’s attention.
While congratulating all the stakeholders that contributed in one way or the other to support the college over the years, she said the success of the school spanning many years has its source in the solid foundation laid by the founders.
“Hence in spite of the many challenges and trials it passed has passed through, the latest being the social media saga which rocked the entire world in March 2016. It is gratifying that the college was exonerated by the minister of education following the report of the formidable panel of investigation.
“The college has maintained its focus and has stood its ground in impacting positively on the society; it remains a model, a dream college of every girl-child and a reference point for girl-child education in the West African sub-region.”
Amodu however said the country is yet to attain the desired enrolment of girl-child as there is still the problem of access to education for those that are willing to go to school.
She said it still requires hard work on the part of government and other well-meaning members of the society to ensure that the drop-out rate of girls from schools is reduced.
The event featured Christian and Muslim prayers, religious songs, thanksgiving, exhortation, cultural dance, among others.
