By Adedapo Adesanya
It has been an eventful celebration at the ongoing 6oth Anniversary of Eva Adelaja Girls’ Secondary Grammar School, Bariga, Lagos. The event was planned to celebrate the institution established by the late educator, Mrs Evangeline Adebayo Adelaja, in 1964.
Particular resplendent in this celebration are the alumni of the school, the Eva Adelaja Girls’ Secondary Grammar School Old Girls’ Association, which have been on the ground to ensure that the planned activities go smoothly.
The event, which kicked off with the Praise Day and Community Hymn Singing held at Chapel of Christ the Light in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, continued on Monday, with a visit to the prestigious Modupe Cole Memorial Child Care and Treatment Home/School in Akoka, Yaba.
Items like bags of rice, beans, flour, wheat meal, and pasta alongside oils, toiletries, and cartons of noodles were given to the children at the sanctuary.
Speaking at the event, the president of the alumni association, Mrs Rhoda Ayinde, thanked the management of the home for creating a haven for the children to grow and develop and be festooned with the knowledge and skill of the real world.
“We express our gratitude to everyone working here and being a season of love, as you know, we just marked Valentine’s Day and what better way to celebrate our 60th than to show love,” she said.
In response, the administrator at the school thanked the old students and wished them a prosperous celebration ahead.
The selected alumni members who were present were shown around the facility and got first-hand experiences of the learning process administered to the children by the management.
On Tuesday, attention was drawn to Fun Day, a day to celebrate the current students at the school with varieties of activities ranging from a novelty football match, rally, health talk on drug abuse and prevention, and a raffle draw.
Expressing her delight at the celebration, the principal of the Eva Adelaja Girls’ Senior Secondary Grammar School, Mrs Oluyinka Soyoye, said the event was a testament to the vision and mission of the sixty-year-old citadel of learning.
“We are producing all-round women who will uplift the glory of their homes and nation at large. Now, this celebration has brought about a kind of motivation for them that they should be focused and have a vision that sometime very soon, they will grow from girls to ladies and then women and that they could also occupy vantage positions in society and give back to the society and their school.”
Her aspirations were echoed by her equivalent in the Eva Adelaja Girls’ Junior Secondary Grammar School, Mrs Vinuyon Buhari, who lauded the academic excellence that the school was famed for, adding that the school has produced some shining lights in different spheres of industry.
“The current students are experiencing what it feels to celebrate the founding of the school and what adds the colour to it is the coming back home of the old students’ appreciating where they’ve been so many years ago… This will serve as inspiration to the current crop when they leave the school.”
She added that the school was in tune with the current nature of learning with emphasis placed on digital learning and technological innovations like robotics and coding, which will boost self-reliance and sufficiency.
For Mrs Omolara Koya, a 1973-1977 alumna, and ex-teacher at the school, it was a good feeling to be back in one of the environments that shaped her to teach at the school in 1985 – 1993.
“I feel on top of the world even as my set was the 10th set to leave here, it felt like I was part and parcel of this school from the onset.”
Mrs Idera Williams of the 1971-1975 set and an executive officer of the UK Chapter of the Eva Adelaja Girls’ Secondary Grammar School Old Girls’ Association, said the feeling was indescribable considering the demise of many former classmates.
“It has been so lovely to be here today to celebrate 60 years is no easy feat.”
For Miss Damilola Fasida, a 2020 set graduate of the school, it was wonderful to see her successor appreciate the school and hope that in the future, she and her colleagues will be able to replicate and impact the school beyond its current state.
Adding her bit for the family, the granddaughter of the school’s founder [Mrs Eva Adelaja], Mrs Angel Kuye, was beaming with pride for what her progenitor established since waxing strong.
“It is exciting because in my everyday life, I meet alumni of the school; proud and excellent Evas, and it shows that if you build something that supports many, those blessings will not come back to you but to future generations.”
Commenting on the establishment of the N1 million Prize known as the Ben and Eva Adelaja Prize, which will be awarded to the best-graduating student moving forward, she said the family would ensure that this does not wane as future generations that spring up from the founder will carry on the legacy.
On Thursday, the Old Girls’ Association held an anniversary lecture and viewed a produced documentary on the school and its many legacies.
The celebration will culminate with a dual event starting with a thanksgiving at Chapel of Christ the Light scheduled to start by 9 a.m. on Saturday, February 24. This is followed by a reception and awards ceremony by noon.
Modupe Gbadeyanka