News
Chinese embassy awards scholarship to 48 pupils in Abuja school
The Chinese Embassy in Nigeria on Wednesday awarded scholarships to 48 best students at the China-Assisted Model Primary school in Nyanya in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.
Presenting the scholarship to the pupils, the Ambassador of China to Nigeria, Amb. Zhou Pingjian said the awards formed part of the programme scheduled to mark the 70th anniversary of China.
Pingjian said that China had always contributed to the development of education in Nigeria because both countries had a lot in common.
He said that on October 1 China would celebrate its 70th anniversary while Nigeria would also celebrate its 59th anniversary as an independent entity.
“I don’t have to explain what Oct. 1 means to us. We know it means a lot to us and to our Nigerian brothers and sisters.
“Boys and the girls of Nigeria, next year you are going to celebrate the 60th independence day of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We appreciate all the good progress Nigeria has made during the past years and for China.
“‘We are so happy to have you here at the embassy, to have a feel of the celebration of the Chinese national day; for us this year is a significant year.
“As students of China-Nigeria model primary school, your education means a lot to us and we appreciate the good effort by the FCT UBEC, the Head Teacher of the school and other friends here with us.
“The name of your school as I see means a lot of things to me, first you see China-Nigeria friendship, there is a very strong bold between you and us.
“Not only in your school, we share a lot of things in common, we all know that Nigeria has alot of population and you may also know that China has a large population.
“Nigeria is very big in economy size, the number one in this continent and China is very big in Asian in terms of economy size.
“Nigeria people and Chinese people are all very friendly, we share alot of character and we share alot of values, like we value education very much,” Pingjian said .
Pingjian said that just like Nigeria has made a lot of progress since independence, China has also made some progress in the past 70 years.
He disclosed that China was very poor in 1949 but now, China now is on the average and one key factor to that achievement, while China grew, was because the country put a lot of emphasis on education.
The Ambassador further explained that in 1949, more than 100 Chinese adult were illiterates and the average years of schooling at that time was less than two years.
He said that in 1949 China had a high population with 600million people and among those, there were only 11,700 graduates in the university stating that in 2019 the college graduates going into workforce was 8.45million.
Pingjian, however, urged the students to be hardworking and also be good ambassadors of Nigeria and China.
The Minister of FCT, Mohammed Bello, who was represented by the FCT Board Chairman UBEC, Dr. Kabir Matazu congratulated China on its 70th anniversary.
He said that China and Nigeria have a common date which was significant as he commended the country for its assistance in building the China Assisted Model primary school in Nyanya.
Bello said that the FCT UBEC was doing all it could to maintain the school.
He said that a computer laboratory had been constructed and would soon be equipped.
The Pioneer Head Teacher of the school, Mrs Duduyemi Saudat said that four of the schools donated to the Nigerian government are in the FCT, Katsina, Kaduna and Ogun States.
She said that the 48 pupils awarded scholarship were the best pupils from primary one to six, adding that six pupils were selected from each class.
“China Assisted Model Primary School was donated to Nigeria government, four of is kind in Nigeria, one of it in FCT, Katsina, Kaduna and Ogun State.
“Three of us was sent to China before the school took off, when we came back we started the school with 85 population, 16 teaches and two Civil Defence.
“Here we are today, we have 450 pupils in and we have being performing very wonderfully with the support of the Nigerian and Chinese governments.
“We made our random selection in the classes, we gave them a placement test and six in each classes were selected that is how we came about the 48 pupils,” she added.
NAN
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