By Alagie Manneh
Green Vision International, a real estate company, is giving monetary support to help convince students of Gunjur Upper Basic and Senior Secondary schools to stay put and continue learning at the respective institutions.
According to Mr Modou Jaiteh, the CEO of Green Vison International, quite a good number of bright students have already left the school or are opting to do so, due to the number of poor performances from other colleagues, forcing him and his company to intervene and help save a school that has helped taught “so many” Gunjurians into responsible persons.
He added that because of that efflux, the school continues to perform poorly.
“So I came with an idea; we at Green Vison came with an idea which is a monetary term. We said to them each student from 1 to 10, will receive D3, 000 if you stay with the school. An again if you finished that schooling and maybe want to go to some university or tertiary education, with good results we will sponsor that education as well.”
Mr Jaiteh said the school administrators have long been “frustrated” with the school’s poor performance and the efflux of bright brains, until he came with that idea.
“They are very happy now. They really appreciate Green Vision’s efforts.”
Mr Jaiteh came to know about the school’s predicament when he was invited to attend their graduation ceremony in Gunjur recently.
“In fact, we financed the whole graduation,” he explained. “Over 54 students from grade 9 and 12 graduated. We are also sponsoring their upcoming excursion with D15, 000. “
Himself a former student of the school, the CEO recalled his learning days when he and his mates would come up with “seven credits” or even better.
“And by then, we only had three qualified teachers,” he added.
Despite being a native of Brikama, Mr Jaiteh said he spent almost his entire childhood in Gunjur, which makes it “part of my life.”
“That is why we continue intervening and helping this important place. We sponsored their Nawettan. We sponsored their zonals and also supported their third division team gain qualification into second division. We have helped lots of small nursery schools. We have done a lot. It is part of our corporate social responsibilities. We have earmarked Gunjur as our project site.”
Meanwhile, during the recent graduation, Green Vision International has also given out a number of individual prizes, besides helping sponsor the graduation.
Jaiteh said: “We gave prizes for discipline, punctuality, among many others too.”
He used the occasion to advise students to be “discipline and read a lot.”
Alhassan Darboe, a US-based real estate businessman and a Gunjur native, also awarded a trophy and books to the best English literature student to encourage education and reading among the youths in his community.
