Life’s most persistent and urgent question, ‘What are you doing for others?’ Legendary American Martin Luther King, once said to an audience in Montgomery, Alabama in 1957.
In honour of those inspiring words, one of Nigeria’s prides in the United for Education Foundation, Odogu Audrey Akpevwe-Oghene is leading in the noble cause of giving back to her community. Her flagship programme called Teach-for-Change is solely established to bridge the gap between public and private education.
According to available information, Teach-for-Change (T4C), mobilises corporate volunteers from work places to classrooms of primary five pupils one hour a week, specifically for public schools. These employees are drawn from all key sectors of the economy, to act as role models and inspiration to the pupils, thereby exposing them to different career options – igniting a sense of ambition and goal as well as increasing their competency in numeracy and literacy.
The inspiration behind T4C was precipitated by the involvement of Odogu Audrey Akpevwe-Oghene when she was a teenager. She was a member of Saint Vincent de Paul – a charity organization reputed for humanitarian ventures. And right from there, she nurtured the milk of kindness in her and since then been an active presence on the humanitarian scene. The Teach-for-Change programme flaunts the record of impacting the lives of over 15,000 pupils who have come in contact with our corporate volunteers. Also they have reached out to over 50 schools in Lagos State and over 500 registered corporate volunteers.
Employees volunteered over 2000 hours helping and acting as role models and mentors in public schools. Teach-for-Change currently enjoy strategic partnership with Microsoft Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Axa Mansard Investments , Accenture Nigeria, Seven Up Bottling Company and other corporate giants who have adopted the Teach-for-Change programme as an employee engagement program and education Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). There are also plans in the pipeline Executive Volunteer Program to reach more public schools nationwide and engage top executives, directors, technocrats and influencers to volunteer one hour to read a book to a class at least once a month.