Date: 2018-05-22

The Chairman of Chapel Secondary School's (CCS) Management Committee, Mr. A. Adesiyun has said that despite the misconceptions that private mission schools in the country were established to make profit, the owners of the school have not taken any money from the school project.

"As a matter of fact, for the past 24 years of its existence, the two chapels that founded the school have not taken one kobo as gain and for more than 15 years they were giving subvention to the school all in a bid to ensure the management did not lose focus," he said.

To make the school more affordable, Adesiyun, the immediate past Director, Physical Planning Unit of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) added that the school charges rebased fees for children of members of staff, and those on pension.

The school was by congregational members at the United Missionary Theological College Chapel (UMTCC) in the early 1990s as a response to the need to address the sliding fortunes of education, and the collapse of moral and spiritual standards among the younger ones.

Given this trend, the proprietors of the school were said to have toyed with the idea of starting a private Christian secondary school that would remedy the observed lapses.

But beyond toying with the idea, it became a reality when on March 27, 1994, the Chapel Secondary School (CSS), Ilorin, Kwara State was established during the anniversary celebration of the UMCA Chapel of Redemption and UMCA Chapel, Tanke, Ilorin.

Today, after 24 years of its existence, the owners of the school are happy that the mustard seed has grown to an oak of academic and moral excellence nurturing the future leaders of the country who are imbued with the virtues of good conduct, honesty, integrity and diligence.

Located in a serene learning environment off Tanke-UNILORIN Road, the school has produced high flying pupils, who came top and won laurels in several state and national competitions in the last 15 years. According to the Principal, Mrs. Jacqui Ejimofor, a child evangelist, whose stand on right upbringing and discipline is almost legendary in the school. Recalling the outstanding performance of the school in the previous years, she noted that the school in 2015, came second in the state level of the National Secondary School Cowbell Mathematics Completion in the Junior Category; emerged first and second position in the Biology Olympiad (state level); second position in the same completion at the national level in 2016 and got second position at both the state and national levels of the STAN Competition also in 2016.

The school, the principal added emerged the overall winner in the junior category in the national stage of the National Biology Olympiad in 2017, and came 12th in the senior category of the same competition. "We are not elitist, yet we compete favourably with our contemporaries," Ejimofor noted, saying several old pupils of the school have excelled and are still excelling in their tertiary education, based on the foundation built for them at Chapel Secondary School.

Among such students, he listed include Awe Deji, who left the school in 2009 and secured admission to UNILORIN to study Mechanical Engineering and graduated with First Class in 2016.

"We also have Kayode Yetunde, our Head Girl for 2010/2011 Set, who graduated from this school and left UNILORIN with First Class in Microbiology in 2015. Also, we have Toyosi Jolayemi of 2009/2010 Set, who graduated from UNILORIN with First Class in Information and Communication Science in 2015," she added.

According to the Principal, CSS, as the school is fondly called by its students, has been doing well in every external examination in the last one decade. For instance, in the West African Senior School

Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, the school has been recording a minimum of 94 per cent pass mark, while it has been attaining between minimum of 71.9 per cent and 90.4 per cent respectively at credit level.

"We don't do window dressing," Ejimofor said about the school's results, even as she hinted: "We have been steadily and conscientiously working on our standard; we just ended a training programme for all staff members and the conclusion was that no child is a dullard as it is the duty and responsibility of the teacher and school to bring out the greatness in every child."

Echoing the position of the Principal, Adesiyun said: "We are for the low and high in society, and that is why we have set our school fees regime in such a way that the average civil servant or trader is able to afford the cost, while we ensure quality standard with state-of-the art facilities."

Adesiyun, who pointed out that the school, had a record of low staff turnover, unlike many of its contemporaries with high staff turnover, which he attributed as one of the banes of private schools in the country, however, said: "We have nothing to fear about our teachers because we pay them well, even above the civil service rates, and they too have nothing to fear about offering their best. With our pension scheme, they realize too well that they have something to fall back upon on retirement. The tone of discipline in this school is such that WAEC does not have any anxiety about our performance in any examination."

Although, CSS is a Christian mission school, its admission, Adesiyun noted, is open to students from other religion, provided they are ready to abide by the school's rules and regulations, saying the owners of the school do not pretend about their faith and stand.

Adesiyun, who added that currently the school has few Muslim students, while many had already graduated and moved on with their lives, said the school had since its establishment produced about 1,700 students.

Towards this end, the Principal listed some other unique features of the school to include quality system of teaching, high academic and moral standard, regular fasting and prayer retreat for staff and students and quality control and supervision of examinations which has earned the school a place of recognition by WAEC.

The school, according to her, could boast of seven different laboratories and five workshops for practical studies, as well as a large and comfortable hostel for students in boarding system.

But, Adesiyun added that despite the comfortable hostels for boarders they are exposed only to minimal beneficial comfort in order to make learning meaningful and more worthwhile.

"Our boarding is not for parents, who want to spoilt their children; we only provide basic comfort for their age grade," he argued.