By Chibuzor Alli
Zenith General Insurance Limited has donated school bags, exercise books and mathematical sets to students in six public schools in Lagos State to ease the cost of educational materials on families and support access to learning.
The intervention, carried out under the insurer’s Corporate Social Responsibility framework, is designed to help parents manage the financial demands of a new academic session while ensuring students have access to essential learning supplies.
Speaking at the presentation at Alimosho Junior Grammar School, Lagos, the company’s General Manager, Mrs Dolapo Talabi, urged students to approach their education with discipline, purpose and persistence.
During an interactive session themed ‘Prepared for Success,’ Talabi told the students that their daily academic activities and personal choices would help shape their future opportunities.
She identified purpose, preparation and persistence as key pillars of achievement, encouraging the pupils not to allow their backgrounds to limit their ambitions.
“Success is not an accident. Success is what happens when preparation meets opportunity,” she said, urging them to pursue academic excellence and recognise their potential to contribute to society.
The company’s Head of Corporate Communications, Mr Hashim Okunbor, said the initiative was intended to provide practical support to families facing the rising costs associated with sending children back to school.
He said investing in young people’s education remained important to sustainable community development, adding that the company wanted its intervention to deliver benefits beyond its immediate beneficiaries.
“As a company, we believe strongly that children are the future. The Back-to-School Initiative allows us to maximise long-term social impact and build multigenerational brand loyalty. But more importantly, we know that the new school session comes with some financial pressure on parents, hence our decision to help in our own little way,” Okunbor said.
According to him, the beneficiary schools were selected in collaboration with local education authorities to ensure that the materials reached students across different communities.
“We hope that these items serve them well and encourage them to dream big,” he added.
Okunbor said the distribution was part of the insurer’s continuing social investment efforts, following a similar intervention in 2024, when the company equipped a school library.
He added that Zenith General Insurance periodically evaluates community needs to identify areas where corporate resources could make a meaningful difference, including initiatives that highlight the social responsibilities of businesses in the insurance sector.
Responding on behalf of the beneficiary schools, the Principal of Alimosho Junior Grammar School, Mrs Ige Mary, welcomed the donation, describing it as timely support for families struggling to meet the cost of basic educational supplies.
Mary said economic hardship had made it increasingly difficult for some parents to balance school expenses with other household needs.
She added that interventions of this nature could help reduce disparities among students from different socioeconomic backgrounds and improve their participation in classroom activities.
The principal also called for greater private-sector investment in public education, urging businesses to support schools as part of broader efforts to develop communities and improve learning outcomes.
“I wish to appreciate Zenith General Insurance and other private organisations and encourage them to see public schools as a rich field for grassroots nation-building,” Mary said.
She called for further investment in educational infrastructure and extracurricular facilities to strengthen the quality of education across Lagos State.
Leave a comment