Against all odds, a tuition free school, Cornerstone Mission Academy, Papalanto, Ogun State, has reaffirmed its plan to continue support for indigent students and ensure they get access to quality education without any financial commitment from parents or guardians.
The school, which already supports over 150 children who are not paying school fees in the community, also provides free uniforms, books, and other materials.
Speaking to journalists during a tour of the school, the Founder, Cornerstone Mission Academy, Abraham Olorunnimilo, who ran the school for the past seven years with no support from government or corporate bodies, said he faces mounting challenges supporting the vision of a free tuition school.
He said: “When we started in this community which is predominantly poor families it was a boarding school and we fed all of them. But because the burden was huge we stopped providing food and we noticed a significant number dropped out. We currently have 150 children which are reduced because we stopped feeding.
“In this community, most parents cannot afford school fees. We want to fill that gap by providing them a place where they can nurture their mind to achieve greatness.
“There has not been any financial support from the government or any corporate bodies. We have sent letters to corporate bodies. Nobody came to our aid. We sent messages out online. Very few individuals, sometimes once in a while, send us some tokens here and there.
“This school needs big money to reach a high standard. Sometimes someone would just send us some token.”
The septuagenarian who has taken on the burden of reducing out-of-school children in the community since 2017, is seeking for urgent Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematical (STEM) and other educational learning materials.
According to the clergyman, the school lacks enough chairs, enough space for classrooms, teachers, science laboratories, library, uniforms and books for the students.
“Here people cannot pay for uniforms, so we give them free uniforms. So, as you can see, we have mixed uniforms, the free ones we gave them before and the new ones which some parents cannot buy. But we want to give them free uniforms. Some of them don’t have books because this is a very remote area. So we look for means to get them books. We want to make everything here free. But financially it has not been easy,” Olorunnimilo lamented.
