Principal Speech

The place of education in human development cannot be over-emphasized. More still the place of women education:"If you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a nation."(Aggrey, 1920).Time is gone when a woman’s place is in the kitchen and in her home. Time is also gone when parents discriminate against their daughters when it comes to who to send to school. Experience has proved that a woman’s education cannot be relegated to the background if any meaningful progress is to be made in national development. Today’s fast-paced, demanding world is very different from that of our parents and grandparents. Today’s woman, because she is educated, goes to work, gets involved in politics and still takes care of the kids, the house, the cooking, the washing and the ironing when she gets home. In politics, these women help to formulate government policies for the betterment of the nation. There are women in education, law, medicine, banking, administration and so on. Most importantly, there are educated women who, as Religious or full time housewives, are engaged in training the younger generation in character and attitude, thus providing a solid base for national development. However, one cannot give what one has not. A woman with academics but no character has nothing to offer a child. This is why the Church never relents in her apostolate of training the young. The Church continues to emphasize sound moral upbringing especially now the emphasis has shifted from sound moral upbringing of the youth to academic qualification and number of credits made. This stand of the Church is reflected in the school’s motto: To excel in Knowledge and Virtue.

At this time in the history of our country, Nigeria, and the world in general when virtue has been thrown to the deep sea, all well meaning individuals are advised to go back to the drawing board to see how the future could be improved upon. Why must our young men and women, the much expected and respected leaders of tomorrow dominate scenes of violence and sexual immorality? Parents and teachers must buckle up and intensify disciplinary measures to whip and nurture the youth into the desired products. Our elders say that the untrained child will be the first to sell off the house built by the parents. No elderly person in charge of a youthful child should spare the rod and mar the child. All hands must be on deck to give proper education of the young the pride of place it deserves as the only way forward for our great country.

Instead of sitting back to condemn our leaders past and present for the social vices in the society, we should all contribute our little quota anywhere we find ourselves. Do not curse the darkness; light a candle! If we all do our jobs well, the society would be better. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I present to you this school established forty one years ago. This is one of Late Bishop Anthony Nwedo’s contributions to the proper education of the young in Nigeria especially in the area of nurturing vocation to the religious life to help in the spiritual growth and overall development of the Nation. Given an opportunity to evaluate the school, I will, with shoulders held high, say that the school has been doing very well. The school has produced eminent women in every sphere of life in this country and beyond, cutting across the religious life and impacting on every sector of our society. We rely on your generous spiritual and material support to maintain this excellence.