The Okatahi Foundation, a non-governmental organization, has presented academic awards for excellence to best primary school pupils in 33 schools across five communities of Okene Local Government Area in Kogi State.
197 pupils were presented with certificate of excellence and school materials at Okatahi Foundation Library in Okengwe, Okene on Tuesday.
President of the Foundation, Mr Oyisi Okatahi charged the awardees to sustain the tempo by studying harder.
Represented by the Project Manager, Mr Daniel Omeiza, the President said the outstanding pupils were all selected on merit. He urged them to keep up the good work as on meritocracy is the key to future development.
He also emphasized on Grace as merit alone cannot make one successful. He charged them to embrace hard work and grace as the two legs of success and greatness.
He explained that promoting sound education is one of the philosophy and core values of the Okatahi Foundation.
“Last year, the Okatahi Foundation carried out empowerment programmes and through these has empowered several persons in Kogi State and beyond with scholarship, skill acquisition, social amenities, among others.
“For this academic awards for excellence, the selection process was completely based on merit and it was transparent. The Foundation screening team verified the academic records of the students from one class to another in all the schools.
“These awards acknowledge the tremendous achievements of the pupils in the participating schools. The awards is reinforce our belief that pursuit of excellence is based on hard work and God’s Grace,” he said.
The event was graced by the head masters from all the participating schools, the foundation stakeholders, parents of the beneficiaries and members of the host community.
The stakeholders and the head teacher present expressed their gratitude to the leadership of the foundation and the team members for rewarding hard works.
The beneficiaries were presented with school bags, books and writing materials each in addition to the certificate of excellence.
