A Kaduna-based NGO focused on providing quality education to children in rural areas, Community Outreach for Educational Change (COEC) has called for the full implementation of Safe Schools in the country.
The Executive Director of COEC, and Manager of COEC Model Schools, Ms Blessing Swanta Bonat made the call during a Training of Trainers (ToT) workshop on Safe Schools Implementation in COEC Schools.
According to her, (COEC) since 2021, has been working with the government and other CSOs to implement Safe Schools in Kaduna State as a member of the Education in Emergency Working Group Nigeria (EiEWGN) and as Master Trainers on Safe Schools.
Ms. Blessing Swanta Bonat explained that the idea of Safe Schools was adopted in Nigeria in 2019 when President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Safe Schools Declaration (SSD) ratification document.
This, according to her, ushered Nigeria into membership of the global commitment of countries to ensure that schools are safe not just for students but for education personnel and all school users.
“And so we are talking to them about the Minimum Standards for Safe Schools, the National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools.
” We are talking to them about how to ensure that this school functions as a safe school so that eventually, others can see. We are a model school, and eventually, others can see how it needs to be done so that everywhere, starting from Southern Kaduna, all schools are safe for children to keep learning.”
The objective of the training is first to empower key stakeholders of the school to ensure a safe, secure and violence-free school in line with the policy and Minimum Standards for Safe Schools. Secondly, it is for the training of trainers who will in turn train schools around Jei (Agwan Gaiya) District on Safe Schools for effective dissemination in Zangon Kataf LGA and Southern Kaduna as a whole. It had 19 Staff, 11 Learners, a representative of the Parent Staff Conference of the school and the Executive Director of COEC in attendance.
Yakuhu Kubai Precious, the Student President of COEC Model Schools described the seminar as quite fantastic.
“I learned that the Safe Schools Declaration is a global commitment of countries to support and protect schools, teachers and other learning centres from attacks.
“We also learned that the Nigerian Federal Government signed the document of joining the program in December 2019. We learned about the Minimum Standards for Safe Schools which we have the school infrastructure, that is, the things that are found in a school and that education is a fundamental human right which is that everybody has equal rights.”
Similarly, the School Administrator, Ms Tabitha Ibrahim disclosed that participants learned about how the school can be safe and a conducive environment for learners. We are learning about the hazards and how we can protect our learners from hazards.
In his remarks, the PSC Chairman, Benjamin Bartholomew opined that “the workshop is very interesting, especially because they are trying to teach the staff and the students how to stay safe and the environment.
”It is a global program by the federal government on how to save schools.
Seeing the importance of this program, we want to plead with the federal government to put things in place for the proper implementation of the Safe Schools.
”I have learned many things, especially as a parent about how to take care of my children from home.
” Most especially in the aspect of violence that takes place both in the school and outside the school because I have two of my children here and I am highly impressed with what they have been teaching my children.”
The trainer’s Workshop is expected to create a better understanding of the Safe Schools Declaration and how to get involved in the process and support its implementation.
