A valedictory Speech Presented by
REV. SISTER STELLA MARIS IDIBIE
On the occasion of the 19th graduation/prize giving day of St Martins N/P School Surulere
The chairman of this August occasion,
Your honour, Engr. Timothy Dafe
Distinguished invited guests from different walks of life
All our highly esteemed parents and guardians of our pupils
Ever revered Staff and Management of St.Martins N/P School Surulere St.Martins
Our dear great, charming and inspiring pupils of St. Martins Nursery & Primary School
It’s indeed another full completion of school year, 2014-2015 as programmed by the education authority of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and is indeed a great honour and privilege to stand before you all once again, as today marks the occasion of the 19th graduation/prize giving day ceremony, especially, our primary six pupils, being their last day in school here as they are passing out. And of course, our heart-warming and charming Nursery 2 children, though graduating today also, but are still going to be with us here to pursue their primary education in earnest. Without much ado, I want to at this juncture welcome everyone to this great occasion. Your presence is highly appreciated and we feel very great seeing you around today. I’m sure you’re definitely going to enjoy every bit of the occasion. Once again, you are all highly welcome!
Like I will always say; there is no victory or success that is obtained on a platter of gold, no matter how small or big. It’s always assiduously fought for and earned. Hence it’s worth celebrating. These ones have proven themselves competent and worthy, both academically and morally for this graduation. Thus have they not only made themselves proud in their respective levels of learning but have also made their parents, guardians and of course, us their teachers very proud as well. Congratulations! You will agree with me in all ramifications that all of this could only have been possible by the grace of the Almighty God, and in one voice, we say a big thank you to Him. Thank You God, we are truly grateful for everything and for the life of everyone here. Permit me to still use this opportunity to thank few categories of persons who have contributed greatly to the success and reason why we have gathered. These are the great parents of our pupils who didn’t only trust their children to our care and tutelage, but have also been committed in supporting them within the limit of their different capacities towards today’s success, because, the training, care and success of every child start from the home. Well-done parents! And of course, the wonderful staff and management of this school, those who have taught these pupils in the classrooms directly and those in the offices doing one administrative work or the other. You have all played your respective roles that culminated to the joy of today. Thank you for your great patience, tolerance, concern, high degree of understanding and care that you have constantly demonstrated and ministered to these children towards their success. Your types are rare to find. Thank you real good.
Looking back at the school year ending of 2014-2015 session; I can confidently say from our overall assessment that the school has not only maintained its high academic standard and kept her place of honour and pride among the very few best schools in the state in general and Surulere in particular, but was able to improve on some areas of achieving greater efficiency and output from our pupils and teachers. We didn’t fail and will continue to explore and ensure within our capacity how our staff can remain highly motivated and in return, putting in their best. All the interschool competitions that this school featured in terms of quiz, cultural and talents display were good testimonies as they were all recorded with fantastic positions and prices worthy of our excellence. This is our pride and honour amongst our counterparts as we see our daily efforts crowned with great successes.
We are indeed grateful to the PTA, members of staff, pupils and management for huge success recorded in our last interhouse sports competition. Thanks so much for your wonderful support.
Scorecards on the graduating pupils; without mincing words, I wish to state categorically clear that these pupils graduating today especially, the primary six, have all satisfied not only the minimum requirement set by the Federal Government of Nigeria but also the very high requirement set by St Martins N/P School without fear or favour. To say in a nutshell, academically and morally they have passed our critical evaluations. Congratulations once again! You have made yourself, parents and us very proud.
The challenges ahead of our graduating pupils; following my usual take on this, please listen real good our graduating pupils especially, the graduating primary six. What you have achieved today is the beginning of a real and more rigorous academic work or study as you’re moving to a higher level of learning. And as a result, there’re challenges that you’re certainly going to face. Some of which are;
· New environment with new people of different backgrounds and behaviours. So be careful on how you relate with each of them that comes your way. No fighting at all rather, report to your teachers any miss-feelings of yours
· Higher influence of pear group pressure. Don’t let some of your students with criminal tendency corrupt your good manners and behaviour. They can ruin your life and future. Make friends with only your good fellow students who are God-fearing and hardworking
· Learning to grapple and coping with your new school rules and regulations appear to be another challenge you may face. You must therefore try to be obedient and good students in order to make us proud here
· And more importantly, you will now have wider range of subjects, more tasks and responsibilities to grapple with. You must therefore try your best to be successful students. In fact we want you to be outstanding morally and academically above your fellow students. This is our most expectation from you.
Generally, the most critical part and test of every student is about how committed a student is in developing the values and character that will enable him succeed in life and impart to others. This we sincerely want from you and therefore, let it be sacrosanct to you all my dear children. For the primary six pupils that are passing out today, I say Congratulations once again on your day, follow your passion, walk in the fear of the Lord, and continue to be leaders as we have always trained you to be. It’s difficult to say goodbye because of how precious you are to us, nevertheless we wish you all well and best of luck.
Finally, I wish to say thank you to all of you once again for coming. We will not fail in soliciting for your good support in every possible way of taking this great school forward in order to keep her edge over her counterparts globally. The trust you parents, guardians of our pupils and trustees of the school repose in us is so dear to us, and we will continue to ensure that we do not disappoint you nor lose sight of our great motto, which is; ‘Renew all in Christ’. To give full education not only in academics, but morals as well.
God bless you richly. Welcome!
Rev. Sr. Stella Maris Idibie
Supervisor, St. Martins N/PS
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Recreating Our World; Teachers and Parents as primary instruments
Recreating Our World; Teachers and Parents as primary instruments
We are in a generation that calls for an urgent rescue mission of our children and the global society that have gone adrift and in the climax of high moral decadence, social vices, indiscipline, totally lost of virtues and etiquette, wrong and bad dressing style, stubborn, rebellion and which ultimately impact negatively on our world. The society or our world today is in a near complete chaotic state, topsy-turvy, characterize by brigandage or cultism, terrorism, corruption, anarchy and all sorts of social vices, which dangerously threaten our peace, coexistence, development and sense of well being, particularly about half a century ago as a result of excessive leverage on freedom, failing to put things in checks and balances or total negligence of duties and responsibilities, especially from parents, teachers and by extension, political leaders in government. Recovery our world, therefore, involves it recreation where parents and teachers are primary instruments. The Holy Writ says, ‘Train up a child in the way he should go, so that when he is old he will not depart from it’ (Proverbs 22:6). The synergy of parents-teachers towards achieving the good and better part of our children and society can never be downplayed.
It is said, ‘Indeed it is an ideal teacher at the climax of his performance that brings about a positive change in the overall behaviour of his students by leading to a lofty character and to exemplary morals’. And that ‘the importance of a teacher as an architect of our future generations also demands that only the best and the most intelligent and competent members of our intelligentsia be allowed to qualify for this profession’ – Nadir Aqueel. A good teacher is recognized as someone who should be a mentor, reformer and a guide, dedicated tutor, perfect educationist and who shouldn’t only know the act of teaching with deep insight into children psychology, but also be able to deal with the students in a just manner i.e., appropriate discipline. He or she is also recognized as a model of faith and piety. He or she is a person who should and must consider it a duty to educate and train his pupils/students and take responsibilities for it. He or she should never betray the trust repose in him or her in building up the students academically, morally, socially and spiritually, which will ultimately impact positively on our society and the world in general.
Parents also, being their children first teachers and learning coaches through guidance and reminders are expected to play paramount roles in the process of character building, help their kids to organize their time and give them the maximum support of their desire towards learning. In the past, parents and teachers are known in making crucial efforts in inculcating higher virtues and morals in children/pupils/students, but gross social change over the last fifty years, large scale urbanization, ruthless competition for financial pursuits, and excessive preoccupation in everyday life have also been implicated to deplete time and energy from the parents, thus trailing behind little time or energy for them to monitor and train their children. And on the part of majority of the teachers, nonchalant or I-don’t-care attitude they display, seriously ravages and jettisons the expected good results of teaching and learning, thereby placing the children/pupil/students at a disadvantaged position. And that is why at the end of the day the society suffers from the result of half baked products from our institutions of learning, right from the primary to higher citadels of learning. No, this is unacceptable and must be challenged. Children are not just sent to schools to obtain certificates but also to get their moral fibres well molded to become good, responsible and reputable citizens that will promote the good of the society, and of course, they are the future leaders. How noble therefore is the teaching profession involving professional teachers and parents!
Against all these backdrops, parents and teacher should therefore be reminded that they have the obligation in building up and sustaining the character of the society or the next generation by impacting on their children/pupils/students the sense of integrity, honesty, truth, hard-work, hygiene, punctuality, patriotism, etiquette, mutual love, sincerity, social and civic sense, obedience to laws and rules, tolerance, excellence etc. Effective and directed teaching not without the presence of corrective measures of training them which will impart on the good of the children and society should be held sacrosanct, and not just working for salaries or just being a parent in the name of bringing a child into this world, otherwise we have failed the children and the world, and posterity won’t be gracious to us rather condemn us. And more importantly to note is that, we all suffer the consequences.
Our education system should through its teachers and parents connect and inculcate basic human morals in the lives of their children/pupils/students, such that a nation could achieve and sustain a healthy and sound society, with hope for an honourable survival for posterity. This will encourage and produce generations of people that would be fortunately well equipped with virtues and morals, dutiful, hardworking, devoted, with sense of determination and perseverance, discipline, self-control, selfless and with the spirit that demonstrates national character, which frowns vehemently at corruption and dishonesty when they later occupy exalted positions of leadership or service. The spirit that would not exert on immoral influence to encourage lawlessness, anarchy, impunity to the detriment of the larger good of the society for a paltry personal gain or vested interest.
Succinctly, our noblest goal and responsibilities as parents and teachers is to build up a strong character in our children/pupils/students right from the beginning, encouraging them to act at all times in accordance with what they are taught and profess, the freedom to follow and embrace what is consider appropriate, perform their societal roles and duties to humanities. Our children seriously need our time; they should be closely followed up and monitored. They should be guided on how to adopt what is good and to avoid what is morally wrong. They should not only be taught academically but also be properly trained morally, physically, socially and spiritually. The gain is the building up of the society and recreating a world that is currently suffering from moral decadence, social vices, misuse of intellect and intellectual bankruptcy in parts.
Rev. Sr. Stella Maris Idibie (EHJ)
SUPERVISOR
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