“My father died when I was in secondary school and my mother died some years later. After my secondary education, the goal of furthering my education was already fading away. When there was no one to save me from my affliction and at the brink of giving up, I saw an advertisement online concerning the Rosula Foundation scholarship (my dream scholarship). I registered and sat for the scholarship examination. I eventually passed and was awarded the scholarship which makes me a student of Crescent University, Abeokuta today”, said Ayoade Sulaimon, a 200 level student of the department of mass communication, Crescent University, Abeokuta, Nigeria.
Sulaimon would have been part of the billiant out of school children and youth who would have been denied access to education, if not for “my dream scholarship” by Rosula foundation. There are about 20 million out-of -school-children in Nigeria according to United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The data indicated that Nigeria has the second largest out of school children.
A factor that determines a country’s future promise is the today’s academic prospect of her youth. The quest for going to school in Nigeria is dwindling due to financial problems, which is presumed to be an inevitable issue all youth with financially unstable parents and those with no parents have to combat at the cause of pursuing their academic set objectives.
Rosula foundation has raised favorable and helpful eyes to brilliant students who are financially incapacitated to continue their education, mostly orphans. The foundation had awarded “my dream scholarship” to 170 students across three private Universities in Nigeria during the 2021/ 2022 academic session.
Out of this number, 53 of the beneficiaries are enrolled at Crescent University, 26 of them are at Igbinedion University while 91 are studying at Afe Babalola University. The goal of the scholarship “is to provide access to quality education for the poor and vulnerable children/individuals in communities to gain knowledge, access to resources and control over their own lives”.
The management of the foundation hinted that it awarded full scholarships to brilliant but indigent candidates to have the opportunity of studying courses of their choice and obtain a degree in the best universities in Nigeria and Overseas.
The foundation added that in the last 20 years, over 800 students have so far benefitted from its scholarship scheme – from undergraduates to postgraduate studies – with 260 students currently studying for various degrees.
Through this intervention, the Rosula foundation has helped in addressing the education needs of orphans and disadvantaged children facing financial difficulties to access tertiary education.
Selected beneficiaries of the scholarship scheme commended the foundation for making their dream of receiving tertiary education come true:
Shotayo Aro-folakunmi a 200 level student from the department of mass communication said, “I became the student of Crescent University through the Rosula foundation scholarship. My tuition fee and other necessary fees were covered, the provisions of learning materials weren’t left out, though I didn’t believe it in the first place because I thought it was too good to be true. I was so happy, excited and grateful to be one of the few winners”.
A 200 level student from the department of business administration, said that the Rosula Foundation scholarship came like a messiah for him. “I was excited to be one of the luckiest people to win the scholarship, because it relieves my Parents of the stress of having to pay my school fees”.
“I’m very happy to be one of the beneficiary of my dream scholarship, the foundation who sponsors the scholarship had helped in depreciating my worries about life because being an orphan, I had no hope of going to school, the philanthropist Organization came to my aid and I promise to do my best to graduate with flying colors”, a 200 level from the accounting department, Ajao Samson Olamide promised.
A Premium Times report in 2021 stated that 551,553 students were admitted into Nigerian Universities as at 2021, compared to 1,949,983 candidates who sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) the same year.
In 2022, members of the Academic Staff Union of University (ASUU) embarked on an eight month strike forcing students to stay at home and frustrate efforts of prospective students seeking admission to public universities to seek alternatives. Only those with financially stable parents and guardians went to Private Universities leaving others out.
Rosula foundation, a non-profit, non-governmental organization addresses issues through three basic fronts, which include empowerment, education and humanitarian as stated on rosulafoundation.org. However, the organization lacks the capacity to render the three basic fronts services due to financial limitations.
According to rosulafoundation.org, the foundation had just been able to sponsor over 800 students since its establishment 20 years ago. This represents a fraction of the 20 million out of school children and youth in Nigeria.
My dream scholarship by Rosula foundation is only applicable to students in three Universities in Nigeria out of 170 Universities in the country, of which 79 are Private Universities, 43 Federal Universities and 48 State Universities.
The call for help is not a sin, the organization can call for a helping hand of influential people in Nigeria to invest in the organization, in order to improve the organization’s dexterity to contribute largely to the life of young Nigerians.
The organization can also start a fundraising programme that will serve as a room to bring Nigerians of high caliber together and through that revenue will be generated to pursue the foundation goal on a larger scale.
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