November 24, 2016
Philanthropist Alton Bendu is once again being celebrated for contributing to nation building after his Prosperity Girls’ High School took second position in the 2016 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the Southern Region.
This is the school’s first edge in BECE results in the region after leading schools in Moyamba district for the past four years.
The school was opened in September 2009 and took its first BECE in 2012. Since then, it has performed tremendously in academia, transforming girls who were potentially destined to help in farms into meaningful citizens with brighter hope for the future.
The indigenes of Rotifunk are reportedly proud to get the first girls’ school in their chiefdom and are satisfied that the school was living up to expectations.
“These are the kind of people Sierra Leone needs to embrace. The man is selfless and patriotic. He needs to be encouraged,” an indigene of Rotifunk told this medium after the announcement of the 2016 BECE results.
Civil society activist, Albert Koroma, said Alton and others should be encouraged and honoured by both the local and central governments for the role they are playing in nation building.
When Mr. Bendu visited Rotifunk early in the 2000s, he was disappointed in many things, especially the fact that girls were being impregnated and their dreams shattered. He then resolved to open a girls’ school with support from his Norwegian friends.
Prosperity School has a library, access to clean water, clean toilet facility, a computer lab, modern furniture shipped from Norway, donated bicycles, standard boarding home to house 40 girls and a modern assembly hall.
The school has created jobs for inhabitants in Rotifunk, employing local teachers who are solely being paid by Alton Bendu without government assistance.
Since 2008, Mr. Bendu has been promoting tourism by bringing dozens of Norwegian students and friends every year to the country.
To boost learning and support government, Mr. Bendu donated school materials to schools in Freetown and gave out over 100 scholarships to vulnerable children in school.