The 1983 graduates of ECWA Secondary School, Igbaja, in the Ifelodun local government area of Kwara state, under the aegis of Igbaja Old Students Association, have donated a block of two classrooms to their alma mater.
The post primary institution, established in 1944, 79 years ago, is currently facing infrastructural challenges as most of their buildings are already old and dilapidated, while many have collapsed.
While handing over the classroom structure to the school authority, the Chairman of the 1983 set of the Old Students Association, Chief Samuel Olu Alabi, said members of the set came together to form the association with a view to contributing their quota to the growth and development of the school, humanity and also to promote the welfare of one another.
Chief Alabi, who said this block of classrooms to be donated was not the first effort by the set of the old students, added that the group had in the past sponsored school inter-house sports, renovated a block of two classrooms, as well as facilitated books for the school library.
“In addition, one of us, Architect Ibikunle Shonibare, also facilitated the location of a Federal
Government motorised borehole with overhead tank to the school”, he said.
The Chairman, who acknowledged that the school played important roles in their formative years, added that, “in fact, most of us found what we had learnt in this school very useful, even later in life”.
He added: “By the verifiable school records, we were 333 students that graduated. It is pertinent to clarify that not all those who graduated with us joined the association, as less than 20 percent of the number of those that graduated were actually involved in this project. Also, since our graduation, we have lost some of our members to untimely death. May their respective gentle souls rest in perfect peace.”
It would be recalled that ECWA Secondary School, Igbaja,
(IGBAOJULE), was established in 1944 as ECWA Teachers’ Training College until its conversion to a Secondary School in 1970 and has since been referred to as ECWA Secondary School, lgbaja (Igbaojule).
He said: “The citadel of learning is the first and the oldest post primary institution in the Ifelodun local government area, even in the entire lgbomina/Ekiti, while it is
also the second Teachers’ Training College in the Northern Region and has produced eminent personalities in the society.
“Over the years, the school has made the community, local government and state proud in academics, games and sports; it has been a model to schools around, the state and eben the country, though most of the buildings are already old while many have collapsed”, he said.