In fulfillment of its commitment to progressively sustain its Corporate Social Responsibility objectives, leading engineering construction company, Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, on Wednesday donated sundry educational materials to Abuja’s school for children from poorest households.
The items ranging from state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, 20ft well-refurbished containers made suitable for staff room and laboratory, 200 backpacks, 2,000 notebooks, copies of the literature book, What Sunny saw in the sun and 50 pieces of mosquito nets, to KNOSK N100 A-Day Charity Secondary School, Kuje.
The exercise elicited excitement and effusive gratitude from beneficiaries even as they had kind words for Julius Berger.
Before the items were officially handed over to the proprietors of the school, the leader of Team Julius Berger to the occasion and the company’s Head of Corporate Communications, James Agama, told the staff and students that in deliberately giving to operational communities, Julius Berger always seeks to underscore the importance of such communities to its operations.
“It is a cardinal aspect of our corporate belief that any effort made to uplift communities around our operational environments is not wasted but puts a smile on the faces of the beneficiaries,” he said.
He added that the ideals and policies that guide the operations of KNOSK N100 A-Day Charity Secondary School, Kuje are commendable and worth supporting.
Agama urged the school and students to use the items donated to further the educational and knowledge goals of the students.
While responding, co-founder of the school, Kingsley Bangwell, said the school was designed for children from poorest households whose parents can’t afford to send them to government schools.
He said, the importance of education and a conducive learning environment cannot be overemphasized.
“The donations from Julius Berger are really something of great joy and credible impact in the lives of our children. First, we have been in dire need of a science laboratory for the longest time. We didn’t have a science laboratory, and for the fact that we converted a rented apartment into a school, we only got to make use of corridors and the kitchen spaces as our lab and Staff offices. It was really a big challenge for us.”
“Julius Berger came to our rescue and not only donated these containers to us, but also gave us state-of-the-art science laboratory equipment, which I call ‘international standard’. The quality and standard is top-notch. We are glad that our students are going to have the kind of lab equipment facilities children in high profile schools have. We have been unable to finish setting up the equipment because of how much they are. Our hearts are filled with so much joy that we cannot start explaining. We are glad that Julius Berger brought these items to the reach of our children thereby increasing their learning experience and making learning come alive in their minds.
“We can’t explain how grateful we are for these timely donations. Julius Berger even spiced it up by giving our kids branded backpacks, notebooks and mosquito nets. Indeed, our joy knows no bounds,” Bangwell said.
The co-founder and the Head of Academics, Mrs. Irene Bangwell, was effusive with thanks and prayers for Julius Berger.
“I want to specially thank Julius Berger Nigeria Plc for every donation the company made to us here. At KNOSK, it is important that when we bring these kids to our school, there must be emphasis on how we close the gap in their learning and still teach them what they are supposed to be taught. What Julius Berger has done for us will accelerate closing the gap. By giving us containers, they gave us space, and then we got world class equipment that we could never afford to buy. If we got a grant to buy science equipment and put it in our school, we would not buy the quality of things that Julius Berger gave us.
“One of the places we’ve always had lapses is our science teaching and learning. I don’t know if my co-founder told you, you gave us more than enough science equipment, because we still have a store filled with them and we are passionate about and eager to move into our permanent site, where we would have bigger science lab and space to put in all these items the company donated to us here. It is beautiful when these kids get to practice all they’ve been taught in their classrooms in the laboratory and with standard equipment. Julius Berger came in and made our teaching experience easier and enjoyable,” she said.
She did not forget to mention many individuals and corporate donors including Ford Foundation, US Embassy and SHE Forum Africa that had helped the school in the past.
KNOSK Charity School was established in 2019 to enable children from poorest households, underserved communities and out-of-school children, especially girls, to access quality and skills based secondary school education that can enable them to advance in life and break the cycle of generational poverty.
As at September 2024, the school had 195 children and about 127 are currently under full sponsorship.
KNOSK Charity Day School is breaking that jinx by giving children from poorest households the opportunity to be able to acquire knowledge and skills-based education through a social financing/child sponsorship model.
Other members of Julius Berger delegation to the CSR event included Precious Ayara, Isichei Daniel and Uzoma Olivia.
