Funmi Ogundare
Community Senior High School, Wasimi, has emerged overall champion in an inter-school Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) competition, organised by Redeemer’s International Secondary School (RISS), Maryland, Lagos, with a N1 million grant to upgrade its facilities.
The winning school’s student representatives will also receive N250,000 each, while Mende Senior High School, which came second, will receive N150,000 per student. Army Cantonment Senior Secondary School, which finished third, will receive N100,000 per student.
The competition was organised as part of activities marking RISS’s 30th anniversary to promote educational development and support public schools across the state.
Speaking at the grand finale recently, the Principal of RISS, Mrs Feyisara Osinupebi, noted that the initiative was designed to celebrate the school’s three decades of academic excellence by contributing to the development of under-resourced learning environments within its host community.
Osinupebi explained that the school would assess the needs of Community Senior High School, Wasimi, before committing the grant to upgrading its facilities.
She added that the students from the top three schools would receive their respective cash prizes, while teachers who prepared them for the competition would also receive tokens of appreciation.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Tolani Alli-Balogun, who was represented at the event, commended RISS for extending its corporate social responsibility efforts to pupils in public schools.
He urged other private educational institutions to adopt similar initiatives to strengthen collaboration between public and private schools and improve educational outcomes.
The Head of the Organising Committee and Head of Science Department at RISS, Mr Francis Victor, said the competition was organised in collaboration with the Lagos State Ministry of Education to ensure academic rigour, transparency and fairness.
According to him, the competition was conducted through a digital, paperless platform, eliminating the use of pen and paper.
“We asked ourselves how best to give back to our community to mark 30 years of impact. We secured statutory approval from the state education ministry, targeted state-owned schools within our local catchment, and deployed a seamless, technology-driven platform without pen and paper,” he said.
Victor disclosed that 26 schools were invited, while 16 public schools participated in the competition, which featured three elimination stages.
The contest was subsequently narrowed to six schools, then four, before the top three finalists emerged. He said Promasidor and the RISS Parents Association supported the competition, adding that the public school pupils’ performance showed their capacity to excel when given appropriate digital tools and opportunities.
The English Language teacher who led the winning school’s contingent, Mr Kehinde Kuje, attributed the victory to the school’s teachers and their commitment to keeping students academically prepared.
He said the students maintained their composure despite receiving information about the competition at short notice.
“It was the collective effort of every teacher at Community Senior High School, Wasimi. We drill our students consistently to ensure they are exam-ready at all times, even when memos arrive late. This victory proves that dedication in public education will never be in vain,” Kuje said.
One of the winning students, Adeniyi-Yisa Aduragbemi, who studies science, attributed the school’s success to persistent research at the library and urged other public school pupils to remain disciplined in their studies.
His teammate, Muhammad Abubakar, thanked their teachers for providing the training and support that enabled them to excel in the digital competition.