150th Anniversary: St. Anne’s Alumni to Raise N250m to Refurbish School

St. Anne’s School Old Girls Association has annoounced plans to raise N250 million to refurbish the school and revive extra-curricular activities, as part of programmes to mark its 150th anniversary.

The Chairperson of the 150th Central Planning Committee, Dr. Funmilayo Soleye, who made this known at a news conference in Lagos, said: “Some major areas to be worked on include the re-roofing of the classroom blocks, clearing and landscaping, creation of various sporting field events and the establishment of a vocational centre, among others.

“We will also set up an endowment fund that we expect the old students and parents of students, interested corporate organisations, families, friends and individuals to donate to.”

Soleye, who noted that it is time to further identify and give back to the school that they love, said the association is planning to celebrate the institution’s anniversary in Ibadan, Oyo State.

“The school is said to be the first school in Nigeria established solely for the education of the girl child.”
According to her, education without extra-curricula activities is not enough to produce all rounded individuals needed to contribute to the much desired accelerated national development.

“We want to come back fully as an association to create an enabling environment that will develop the finer aspects of life in a bid to produce complete ladies that will be able to assert themselves in every area of life’s endeavour.

“We want to go back to that old tradition we had in our time in school when we had robust boarding house system.
“There were lots of activities that developed the finer aspects of life. We had clubs like the literary and debating society, the drama club, we also engaged in an annual competition between houses covering the festival of the arts. We had each of these houses representing different cultural aspects of the country.

“In inter-house sports too; we had the track and field events, where national athletes such as Flora Okoli were discovered by the school. All these are part of things we are working hard to re-introduce into the school’s educational system.

“The association is also planning to hold an exhibition outlining the history of the school as far back as possible, at the old school hall beside St. Margaret House.
“There is also plan underway to start a scholarship scheme for brilliant students based on the household income,” she said.

According to Soleye, girl-child education remains a critical component of any country’s development, adding that efforts must be intensified to support the development of the girl-child so as to have a happier and prosperous nation.

The programme will hold from October 14-19 with the theme ‘The Trials and Successes of the Girl Child Education in Nigeria: the St. Anne’s Story’.

The alumni association has its members spread across the world with 11 branches in the country and in the diaspora, including UK, US, Canada and South Africa.
St. Anne’s School is the product of a merger between two schools- CMS Girls School founded in 1869 in Lagos and Kudeti Girls School founded in 1899 in Ibadan, both by the Anglican.