It was a huge relief for families of some out-of-school children in Ibadan as Treasure Builder Foundation, a non-profit organisation enrolled at least 10 street kids in school.
This comes three months after Tribune Online reported the living condition of out-of-school children in the State, with over 1,000 impressions on YouTube at the time of filing this report.
Inspired by the untold stories of these kids, the NGO in collaboration with a donor (name withheld) sponsored 10 out-of-school children in the State back to school.
“Following the report of UNESCO about the out-of-school children in Nigeria that is running to (20 million) of which we have a lot of them in Oyo. Recently, Tribune Online did a documentary on out-of-school children where we were opportuned to be and we spoke at length about out-of-school children. This prompted human empathy in us and we felt we needed to do more.
“We are so surprised that many of them were eager to go back to school. One of the reasons for this menace is parental failure. Many parents are not even able to take care of these children. Imagine a woman having about nine children, how will she take care of these children in this present economy?
“The number of out-of-school children is skyrocketing and becoming unbecoming by the day. So, we need government and other well-meaning Nigerians to support this work. It’s a collective effort,” Mrs Christiana Daniel, Executive Director, Treasure Builder Foundation disclosed.
One of the beneficiaries, Salim, 13, promised to convince some of his folks who are still in the street to join him in class while expressing his gratitude to the foundation.
Another beneficiary, Ahmad, 12, said he left school five years ago while he was in Primary One following the death of his father.
In his part, 12-year-old Abdulmalik was enthusiastic when our reporter visited his new school as he lauded the intervention of the foundation.
Salim’s grandma
When asked about how she felt seeing his grandson going back to school, Mrs Safuratu Adebisi said; “Malik has been living with me since his mother separated from his dad. He has been roaming the street for some time now but I thank God that he is now finally back to school”.
She also appreciated the sponsor for taking the 13-year-old back to school saying there has been huge improvement in the grandson’s lifestyle since he was taken out of the street.
Others react
Another parent, Mrs Aminat described the development as good gesture and promised to ensure that his son (Ahmad) pays attention to what he is being taught in school.
For Mrs Saadatu Najim, the nurturing of Abdulmalik has been challenging, adding that the lad had been away from home for some months before his recent transformation. She also showered encomiums on the foundation for coming to her aid and giving her grandson hope for the future.
The caretaker in charge of street kids at Mokola Underbridge, Baba Awu also lauded the intervention while calling on other well-meaning Nigerians to do same.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
