Students and teachers of three public secondary schools in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on Tuesday learned to report harassment, gender-based violence, corruption and other forms of social injustice.
“After this training, I am confident that in any situation I can speak because I am not left without a voice,” said one of the students at the end of a day-long sensitization workshop organized by the Akin Fadeyi Foundation on Tuesday.
Workshop
The workshop, called: ‘Be Safe Initiative’ and organized with the support of the Macarthur Foundation, aimed to empower secondary school students and teachers with skills to combat corruption, cyberbullying, sextortion, gender violence and others problems of social injustice, stated the Founder. and executive director of the foundation, Akin Fadeyi.
“The Be Safe Initiative is testament to the Akin Fadeyi Foundation’s continued commitment to its Behavior Change, Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) initiatives,” he said.
Akin Fadeyi Foundation Program Coordinator Patience Ismaila said the workshop featured highly interactive training sessions, including discussions, role-plays and dramatic promotional messages titled; “Corruption is not in my country.”
Ms Ismaila said: “The workshop marked an important milestone in promoting security awareness among area council students and staff.”
“Participants were equipped to serve as Be Safe advocates and empowered to conduct training sessions for their peers. Each participant received workshop materials, including notebooks, pens and the Be Safe manual, designed to support ongoing learning and serve as reference materials,” she said.
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Participants
The awareness workshop was held at the Gadis Events Centre, Bwari Area Council, with the theme: “Empowered to create safe spaces online and beyond.”
The participants were from three government secondary schools in Bwari Area Council. They include; Government Day High School, Bwari, Government Day High School Dutsen-Alhaji and Government High School Jibi.
“Now I know that we need to be aware of the information we share and what we post online and I will empower others,” said one student at the end of the workshop.
A teacher who spoke at the end of the program encouraged organizations to facilitate more similar programs in schools. She said it would give students exposure and educate them about bullying, which she said is a prevalent problem in senior secondary schools.
“I really enjoyed the training provided by the Akin Fadeyi Foundation and appreciate the facilitator, her examples and everything from the illustrations to the analogies used during the training. They encourage me to go back to school and then talk to my students, make them understand the power of being safe,” she said.