The Bells Comprehensive Secondary School, Ogun State, has emerged winner of the 2024 edition of the Winifred Awosika Foundation Schools’ Challenge.
The Ota-based school defeated seven other schools that made it to the final with 30 points at the grand finale of the quiz competition held at the Chrisland Pre-Degree College, Lekki, Lagos.
Interestingly, Crescent International School, Ota, also in Ogun State, finished second with 28 points, while Grace High School Gbagada (27 points); Lagoon Secondary School, Lekki (25 points); Whitesands School, Lekki (23 points); Landmark College, Ikorodu, and Fountain Heights, Surulere, all in Lagos State, came in third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth positions, respectively.
They were all rewarded with certificates and prizes based on their efforts with the overall best going home with the most valuable gifts.
The Executive Head in charge of academics, Christland Group of Schools, Mr. Segun Ogunsola, went down memory lane to 1977 when High Chief Winifred Awosika, established Chrisland Schools.
He said Chrisland School started in 1977 with just five pupils, among whom two were children of the founder and the rest were children of her friends.
He added, “But today, the school has up to 16 primary and secondary schools, and one university, and more are coming.”
Ogunsola explained that the annual competition was initiated by the founder as a social arm of the schools using the foundation as a platform to promote healthy competition and excellence among secondary school students in the country, saying the founder has a strong passion for quality education and general societal development.
In his keynote address entitled, “Promoting Academic Excellence” at the event, Mr. Bisi Sofela from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), charged the students to be focused and committed to their studies and other legitimate activities, saying that is the way to guarantee success now and in future.
He said they would therefore need to know and believe that there is no shortcut but hard work to success in life.
He said whatever profession they would want to venture into after their studies and become successful in it, they would need to lay a solid foundation for it now that they are in school.
Expressing happiness for winning the top prize, the duo of Musa Abdulrahmon Ziyad and Kunle Daniel, SS3 students, who represented The Bells Comprehensive Secondary School, attributed their success to hard work, teachers and the grace of God
