A total of one hundred out-of-school kids were selected to participate in the relaunched AUN Feed and Read Program, which commenced on Friday, February 4, 2022, in the Waziri Hall of the North Campus.
At a colorful flag-off ceremony where enthusiastic and appreciative community members took up every available seat, the fifty boys and fifty girls enrolled in the restart program began a life-changing experience under a program first introduced by Dr. Margee Ensign, President of the American University of Nigeria in 2015. This has since become a national model for extending education to the most vulnerable children in the community who are out of school.
Recalling the inspiration for initiating the Feed and Read Program, President Ensign said:
"Every day when being driven to work, I would ask my wonderful driver Umar Aliyu about these children on the street and why they weren’t in school. I didn't understand. He explained to me about the almajiris, and the many parents who didn't have enough to send them to school--even though schools are supposed to be free. He really helped me understand and think through what we might do for these children. I thank him for being so much more than just my driver; he's smart and determined, and he reminds us that everyone at AUN matters and can contribute."
President Ensign thanked the Founder, HE Atiku Abubakar, for his passion for education and commended his support for the Feed and Read program.
"I know how much he believes in this program and in making sure these children, like all children, get an education. Because it is a basic human right. I know he wanted to be with us today and I'm sorry he can't be, but I hope he's watching us on one of our live streams or social media. We thank him for his support, encouragements, values and principles,” the President said.
The relaunched Feed and Read Program will again be coordinated from the Office of the Principal of the AUN Schools, Mrs. Nkem Uzowulu, under whose supervision the first and subsequent batches of enrollees were brought into the program and catered for.
Mrs. Uzowulu gave a brief run-down of the program's humble beginnings:
"This program was first launched officially in 2015 after a trial phase started in April 2014 with boys only. In 2016, with the introduction of girls to the Feed and Read program, we registered and graduated 200 girls and 200 boys for each section.
However, we intermittently fed 432 additional pupils because more kids just poured into the premises, and we could not simply turn them away.
"In 2017, we registered another batch of 150 girls and 150 boys, totaling 300.
"The primary objective of the Feed and Read Program is to initially reduce and completely eradicate the incidence of out-of-school children and pupils who drop out of school. We teach them personal and environmental hygiene, moral and civic lessons, and basic numeracy and literacy. The aim is to empower these kids to be better persons in society and an asset to humanity.
I see potential in these children; I see the greatness that could be wasted for this and future generations if not quickly tapped and developed.”
According to Mrs. Uzowulu, the one hundred boys and girls enrolled for this year's program were carefully selected from the most vulnerable parts of the local community as AUN's contribution to the progress and development of the host community.
The Dean of the AUN School of Law, Professor Mohammad Yusuf Yusuf, commended the program's initiators for their foresight and doggedness in offering a solution to a severe social problem in this part of the country.
"The issue of out-of-school children is critical; it is important not only because we need to have educated children, but it is important because when we do not educate these out-of-school children, they will be a problem to us," Dean Yusuf said.