Education is the best legacy parents and guardians could bequeath to their children and wards, both in developing and developed countries.

This is only true if parents and guardians know and appreciate the long term values and benefits of education and are therefore prepared to sacrifice their present comforts for the education of their children or wards.

Our children and wards are the leaders of tomorrow and so, we as parents and guardians must nurture them to greatness, even though education at whatever level is not cheap.

The United Nations Children’s Education Fund, (UNICEF), was established 11 December 1946, by the United Nations to meet the emergency needs of children in post-war Europe and China and across the entire world.

But, UNICEF said in Nigeria with an estimated population of 200 million people, 10.5million children in our country are not attending schools, saying that “one in every five of the world’s out-of-school children are from Nigeria”.

Primary education is officially said to be free and compulsory, and yet children between the ages of 5-14 years are roaming the streets in Nigeria, malnourished, sickly, and out-of-school, begging for alms.

Let us tell ourselves the truth, there are unregistered, unprofessionally run, ill-equipped and mushroom schools in developing and developed countries of the world.

There are also professionally run and well equipped schools in Nigeria and elsewhere.

Though the UNICEF statistic is not limited to Nigeria alone, as the United States of America, United Kingdom and other developed countries also have their fair share of the figures of children not attending schools.

Independent checks and verification however showed that there are more than 20million children and youths in schools at the nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in our beloved country.

However, in Nigeria, one of the many schools doing a fantastic job is located along the Lagos-Abeokuta axis of Ifo, in Ogun state and founded by, Pastor G. O Odunoye, who is also the Executive Director.

The schools: St George Comprehensive College and St George Foundation School, are nurturing children to future greatness and therefore assisting the government at various levels to bridge the education gap.

A visit by this writer to his school located at Plot 13, Abeokuta-Lagos Expressway, opposite The Redeemed Christian Church of God, Ashimolowo, Bungalow, Ifo in Ogun State, Nigeria, revealed a school founded and run on God with discipline as the watchword for every student, staff and the management.

His words: “Investing in the education of your children or wards is a worthwhile investment that is bound to bring in bountiful returns in investments with time”.

Therefore, the UNICEF 10.5 million children out of school calls for concern and this is the reason we established our school to bridge the gap and partner with government at various levels to help raise the standards on our educational sector.

But, getting the right school to mold the character of your children, using God as the foundation with discipline as a back-up, takes time, resources, and efforts.

We, at St George Foundation School, the crèche , nursery and primary school arm and St George Comprehensive College, the secondary school arm, both have what it takes to partner with parents and guardians in nurturing their children and wards to greatness.

“In as much as we love all students equally in the school, we will not hesitate to punish any student involved in any form of indispline or social vices”. Pastor Odunoyo is a tried and tested man of God from The Apostolic Church fold and he said recently that “lots and lots of prayers have sustained the school since it was established”.

The fear of God, hard work, discipline, honestly, patriotism, high ethical standard, mental alertness, versatility, are some of the key words the schools are noted for.

The vision, mission, and philosophy of the school is anchored on using the best and modern teaching methods to prepare students for various tasks in the future, producing serious minded individuals in both learning and characters for future leadership positions and striving to lay high ethical standards and religious orientation for the students.