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Rekindling hope for needy students

In keeping with its vision to raise students, who will become stars in their chosen career, The Vale Tutorial College (T VTC), Ibadan, a foremost Upper Sixth Form College founded by Mrs. Funso Adegbola, daughter of the late Chief Bola Ige, has continued to offer quality A’Level education and breaking new grounds with the students excelling in Cambridge Advanced Level. Kayode Olanrewaju writes

 

Its establishment 10 years ago was to provide qualitative Advanced Level education, change the narrative of Higher School Certificate (HSC) education and position the students for a better university education.

 

This is the vision of The Vale Tutorial College (TVTC), New Bodija in Ibadan, Oyo State, a foremost Upper Sixth Form College, founded by its Proprietress, Mrs. Adegbola, Ten years after its establishment, the college, an arm of The Vale College, has continued to grow in leaps and bounds in providing a solid foundation and pathway for A-Level certification as a response to the need to prepare students for admission into the Nigerian and foreign universities and colleges.

 

Located in a serene and conducive learning environment, the college offers a unique Advanced Level Education, which places the students on a good standing for admission into 200-Level in Nigerian universities.

 

With its enviable track record of academic excellence, the college, according to the management, has continued to break new grounds as the students are making waves and climbing extraordinary heights in national and international examinations.

 

Basking in the euphoria of laudable achievements of the college, Mrs. Adegbola, however, recalled how two of final year students of the Atinuke Ige Scholars excelled in the Cambridge Advanced Level with three A* stars. In examination, John Pius-Obayemi, an Atinuke Ige Scholar scored ‘A* Stars’ in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, winning the Best Result; while Al-Fatihi Abdulmalik also scored A* in Sociology, Economics, Mathematics, with second best result.

 

The college, which has consistently placed Oyo State and the country on the global academic map, in 2014 won the Best Result when one of the students, Maryam Adeyanju scored three As in Chemistry, Physics, Biology, and in 2015, Boluwatife Adewale also led the pack with three A Stars in Chemistry, Physics, Biology; while AbdulHammed Babatunde achieved the same feat in 2017 with three A Stars also in Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Joel Christiana, in 2019 also scored A*in Sociology,

 

B in Literature and B in History to emerge with the Best Results for that year. Meanwhile, on August 15, the school management in compliance with the government’s directive to keep COVID-19 pandemic at bay, rolled out the drums to celebrate exceptionally brilliant students at a valedictory service organised for the Graduation

Class of 2020 at the New Bodija, Ibadan campus of the college. In her remarks, Mrs. Adegbola said: “With the outstanding performance of the college, vision and mission of the school were being achieved as a journey and not a destination. We are definitely on the right path.

 

The vision was to provide an enabling environment for life-long learning, training and nurturing leaders with the right kind of values.” On what makes the college unique from other Upper Sixth Form Colleges, she attributed this to a combination of several factors, saying TVTC is an institution where students are well-groomed, tutored and trained to excel in life.

 

Speaking of the state-of-the-art facilities, Information Technology and laboratory equipment provided in the college, the Proprietress added: “We are doing excellent job in teaching and training our students in order to achieve high grades through the firstrated, comfortable hostel facilities, as well as modern instructional materials. We are not just a centre, but a fullfledged school. It is a safe and serene environment, extremely conducive for learning where parents do not have to worry about the well-being and safety of their children.

 

Our students undergo leadership training sessions every weekend; there are sessions on character development and there are mentoring sessions for the students by the alumni.” Besides, the school, she pointed out, organises entrepreneurship training and programmes for students on weekends, where they are equipped with various skills such bead making, make-up and fashion design, among others.

 

The school, which ensures close inter-personal relationship between the parents and the school, also selects the best student in character and learning every session, and low student-teacher ratio, as well as effective online classes especially during COVID-19.”

 

On the Atinuke Ige Scholarship, which was instituted to bring succour to brilliant students from public schools in Oyo State, Mrs. Adegbola described the initiative as a way of giving back some of the values she imbibed from her late parents. Mrs. Adegbola added: “I started the Atinuke Ige Scholarship in 2013 for students, who finished their WAEC in public schools in Oyo and Osun States.

 

One of the cardinal points of my father’s political party then, Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), was free education for all students at all levels. My parents believed in education not only for their biological children, but also education of other children.

 

Despite that they had three biological children, they raised over 300 children. I just thought I cannot do free education like my father as Governor of Oyo State, but I know very well that my mother gave scholarships to several people.

 

“About seven years ago, I began with Justice Atinuke Ige Scholarship for brilliant children in public schools in Oyo State, who had completed secondary school and were being given the opportunity to do their A’ Levels at The Vale Tutorial College so that they can secure admission into 200-Level in Nigerian universities. “The worth of the scholarship is N2.5 million for each beneficiary and the programme has since been very successful.

 

The past winners, a male and female, Boluwatife Adewale and Maryam Adeyanju are currently studying Medicine and Surgery at the University College Hospital Ibadan. Some of our alumni are studying in the United Kingdom apart from those in Nigeria. I believe in a vision of quality education for all Nigerian children irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds.”

 

Meanwhile, she recalled how a few years ago, she initiated tha Annual Scholarship Scheme in memory of her late father, Chief Bola Ige for children in public schools. Under the scheme, she awarded scholarship to the best boy and girl in a written and oral selection examination.

 

The best two students in the examination are awarded scholarships worth N12 million for the six years post-primary education.

 

Of significant note, she stressed, was that it is a scholarship award that transforms lives, saying the N12 million scholarship awards had benefited children of bricklayers, tailors and bread sellers, among others. While stating that the Upper Sixth Form College has continued to churn out excellent students,

 

The Vale College founded 26 years ago, has continued to record excellent achievement. “Apart from excelling in WAEC and its equivalent examinations, the school has continued to exhibit its academic prowess producing students, who have today become Nigerian Ambassadors and global business icons.

 

One of its former students, Yewande Akinola received an award from Queen Elizabeth II of England in 2012 for being one of the best female engineers under 30 in the entire United Kingdom. A number of our students obtained First Class Honours Degree in Pharmacy, Law and Accounting, among other fields of study,” Mrs. Adegbola hinted.

 

At this year’s 2020 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) result, recently released by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board Examinations (JAMB), no fewer than seven of the students, she noted, made the nation proud by scoring above 300 out of 400 marks.

 

According to her, Toluwanimi Soladoye scored 351 marks; Andrew Alao (341); Mubarak Titilola (341); Kofo Oyeniyi (333); Lekan Adekanmbi (326); Oladele Omogboyega (324) and Bimpe Olukolo (309).

 

Expressing delight at the laudable performance of the school, a former student of Command Day Secondary School, Odogbo, Ibadan, Pius-Obayemi, who has been winning academic laurels and who scored Six As, 1 B and 2 Cs in the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) lauded Mrs. Adegbola for instituting the Atinuke Ige Scholarship.

 

The student said: “Coming top in my examinations, I felt very elated, I was proud of myself because it was a bit more than I had expected. I knew that these results were good enough to make everyone proud and get me into a very good university. Initially, I was a bit discouraged about achieving these scores but later when we started coursework, I put in my best. TVTC has impacted my academic life tremendously.

 

The teachers are also very dedicated and experienced. I am able to say that my academic strength has been developed and advanced. After this, my plan is to seek admissions into foreign universities through scholarships to study Electrical and Electronics Engineering.”

 

Mrs. Adegbola, while tracing the journey of the college in the last one decade of providing qualitative education, however, described the 10 years as only the beginning, pledging the commitment of the TVTC to offer excellent and quality training and education.

 

“The next 10 years TVTC will witness growth in size and in quality service delivery, even as our old students would have become leading experts in their chosen fields and mentor the existing students of the college,” she added.

 

 

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