At the graduation ceremony for the sixth cohort of the AUN Feed and Read program, stakeholders and students gave a standing ovation to the Founder of the University and former Nigeria’s Vice President, His Excellency Atiku Abubakar, GCON. Community residents and members of the academic community attended the ceremony outside Waziri Adamawa Hall on North Campus to see 50 boys and 50 girls graduate from the UNICEF-sponsored program.
The program's coordinator and executive director, Mrs. Nkem Uzowulu, commended His Excellency Atiku Abubakar for creating a favorable environment that allowed hundreds of Yola's out-of-school children to participate in the program as a first step toward enrolling them in formal education.
"This Feed-and-Read program is a dream come true; many children have graduated from it and have been placed in various formal schools to begin their basic education." When you look at these kids today, you won't believe they're the same ones we started this journey with months ago. The transformation is visible." The School Principal congratulated and praised the graduating students and their parents for their hard work, dedication, and discipline.
Professor Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob, keynote speaker and Dean of the AUN Graduate School and Research, also praised the students and teachers for upholding the Feed and Read program's vision and mission. “I can see future artists, lawyers, scientists, doctors and teachers among you. Now, you have graduated from the Feed-and-Read program, but you have not graduated from the school of learning, always seek education, keep on learning, be kind, be loving, be compassionate”.
The 6th cohort of the program began on February, 2022 with 100 pupils. The 7th cohort, also sponsored by the UNICEF, has already began as educationists and policy makers grapple with how to drastically reduce the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.
The AUN initiative, which began in 2015, has been nationally and internationally recognized for its pioneering role in providing education to thousands of children who had dropped out of school and had no formal education. They receive basic numeracy and literacy instruction through the program. They are also taught personal and environmental hygiene, as well as moral and civic lessons. They are given one meal per day and have the option of enrolling in formal schools upon graduation.
Reported by John Abah