In line with the vision of Lagos State Government to save the child, artistes, teachers and experts recently assembled for the first education summit, which held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The summit rounded off a series of activities being mounted by the state in collaboration with the Guranga Foundation to create succour for children and youths.

Earlier last month, the state government with the active support of Governor Raji Fashola and his deputy, Princess Adebisi Sosan had organized a feeding exercise and a night of glamour in honour of school pupils. The feeding session, which held at Wesley School 2, Surulere, eventually dovetailed into a big party in which a number of popular and upcoming acts led by Stella Monye served the children with food and edifying music.

Explaining the mission of the state government and Guranga Foundation, the duo of Mrs Sunkanmi Oyegbola (Desk officer; Support Our School Initiative) and Bolaji Rosiji hinted that artistes have offered to support government to save the Nigerian Child.

They explained that it became imperative for the various artistes particularly musicians to join parents and teachers to initiate advocacy for children.

On the summit which had the theme; Funding Qualitative Education in Lagos State, Tunji Bakare of the Lagos State Ministry of Education disclosed that discussants focused on diverse topics including curriculum, teacher development issues, infrastructure and governance. He hinted further that the summit was the brainchild of Governor Fashola who believes in qualitative education, using the parameters of Millennium Development Goals.

Said Bakare “ The Education Summit 2009 was graced by delegates from all over the world. These experts, who are endowed with impeccable credentials from some of the most respected institutions in the world, brainstormed with their Nigerian counterparts proffer solutions that may revolutionize education in Lagos State.

In addition, the summit rallied all stakeholders in education, the arts as well as the industrial sector. “ The captains of corporate Nigeria came to support the event as part of their corporate social responsibility. Private schools, Community and faith based organizations also teamed team up with the media, political leaders and legal luminaries as well as musicians and actors to decide the way forward and one of the highlights of the summit was the need to need to set up a monitoring agency to ascertain high quality education in the state”.

According to Stella Monye, Guranga Foundation is in the forefront of developing the child hence its decision to support Lagos State government in making the summit a success. Also Guranga is facilitating artistes’ involvement in the whole process, since music provides the universal message that appeals to everyone on the need to make life better for the younger people in the society.