After 35 years of actively impacting students’ lives in the senior and junior arms of the school, Ansar-Ud-deen High School Falolu Road Surulere Old Students’ Association recently organised a send-off party to celebrate outstanding principals of the school who have left their footprints for the cause of humanity. Sunday Ehigiator reports
It was a moment of exaltation and thanksgiving on September 21, 2022, as well-wishers, students, teachers, parents, and alumni of Ansar-ud-deen High School, Falolu Road, Surulere, Lagos, gathered to bid the principals farewell after decades of instilling knowledge and character in students, some of whom are currently leaders in their various career paths. In attendance were celebrants and outgone principals of the school, Mrs Nimotalahi Folashade Moronkeji (senior school) and Mrs Afusat Abiodun Ogunbadero (junior school).
The event also ushered in two new principals, (for the first time) an alumnus of the school) Dr Mrs Sherifat Ajoke Yusuf to head the senior arm, while Mrs Adijat Kuburat Dalazi will be in charge of the junior school.
In his welcome address, the President of AHOSA, Mr Rafiu Williams, said the send-off party was a continuation of the intention of the old students to give back to their school just as they had received.
He said the two outgoing principals had done well for the school, adding that during their tenure, there was no negative report about the school either from external or internal sources.
Also, speaking about the old students’ decision always to give back to the school, the BoT Chairman, AHOSA Education Trust Fund, Alhaji Rafiu Ebiti, said, “I believe in everything that has to do with education, and this is the driving force. It has been said and proven that with education, you can change the lives of people and lift people out of poverty into prosperity. It is education and knowledge that makes the man. This is why I am very disposed to anything that has to do with education and knowledge.”
He added, “In the case of Ansar-ud-deen High School, Falolu Surulere, I am overwhelmed. Because whatever I am today, I can attribute 80 per cent of it in terms of values to this school. So if the school has given me so much, I don’t think there is enough I can do to make the school better and improve the lots of the current students. For the first time, we are getting an old student of this school to become a principal, and that is a big achievement when looking at the structure of Lagos State.”
Also speaking, the chairman of the occasion, the Tutor General and Permanent Secretary Lagos State Education District IV, Olusegun Osinaike, described the two outgoing principals as resilient, dogged and rugged. According to him, they took all education policies with ease and accomplished whatever the government set out as a goal.
Commending the old students, a former Biology teacher/principal of the school, Alhaja Wusamot Adegoke, said, “Here in this school, I worked as a teacher, I worked as head of the department, as vice principal, and as principal. So you see all these grown-up men that you now see. I was privileged to see them. I grew with them from year one till when they finished. If I were to be reincarnated, I’d be a teacher.”
The guest of honour and National Chief Missioner Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdulrahman Ahmed, lamented indiscipline had worsened in schools.
“I think we all share the fault. Part the parents, part the teachers and part the government. It will continue to be like this unless we decide to change our commitments,” said Ahmed.
The newly appointed principal and an alumnus of the school, Dr (Mrs) Sherifat Ajoke Yusuf, thanked the school’s stakeholders for their confidence in her. Yusuf promised to be a good ambassador just as she continued to improve on the achievements of their predecessor.
In an interview with THISDAY, the outgone principal (senior school), Mrs Moronkeji, said she was elated, happy and fulfilled to retire after 35 years of active service and 60 years of age.
“I have turned out graduates. I have impacted many children, a lot of children, especially girls. It’s not a girl’s school. However, I love mentoring girls, and due to the set of students being sent to us, some from average homes and some from illiterate parents, we have told them that the only thing they could gain from this school is not to be mentored as a hooligan or half baked, but rather becoming a graduate and a career lady.”
Mrs Ogunbadero told THISDAY she was redeployed to Ansar-ud-deen in 2021 and has spent a year and few months. Ogunbadero, who had worked in various schools before Ansar-Ud-Deen High School, said she was happy retiring with her head high.
“Looking back, 2020, when I was made the principal of Akoka Junior High School, all the students passed their Junior Basic Education Examination. Now at Ansar-ud-deen, in the result of the present set, they also did well,” she explained. “Out of 372 students that sat for the examinations, we had only two resits and one failed. This is a major highlight for me.”
The newly appointed principal of the school, who is also an alumnus, Dr Yusuf, thanked the school’s stakeholders for their confidence in her. Yusuf promised to be a good ambassador while she continued to improve on the achievements of her predecessors.
