About 60% of schools in Oyo State do not meet the minimum standard for safe schools as stipulated by the National Policy for Safety, Security, and Violence-Free Schools, according to a survey.
UNICEF’s Education Specialist, Mr Babagana Aminu, speaking at a state-level workshop for education stakeholders on safe school implementation, said baseline data collected in 2022 showed that about 60% of schools in Oyo State are not safe, pointing to schools surrounded by markets and shops selling alcohol and drugs and inaccessible because of floods.
“When we say safe, it doesn’t mean that armed men come into the school. That’s one aspect of safety. Another aspect of safety has to do with health. Are children being kept safe and healthy in school?
“For example, provision of toilets. It is not only physical toilets. Are the toiletries available to ensure that students or teachers use safe materials to clean themselves after they use the toilets? Even when toilets are provided, inside the school, some students prefer to go to the bush to defecate. That means it’s a big health concern.
“So, there is a need for state government and all stakeholders, including community-level stakeholders, to take action. And this action begins with me, the government, and the pupils themselves.
“That’s why we are doing this stakeholder engagement so that school board management committees, LG officials, and state officials can go back and now engage with the communities, with the parents.“
Mr Believe Eke, also an education specialist in charge of Safe Schools at UNICEF Nigeria, declared that a pilot study in 6,000 schools in 10 states faced with a high rate of insecurity and a high rate of out-of-school children in Nigeria found less than 10 of these schools met the minimum standard for safe schools.
“The percentage of implementation is still far, far lower. And so that is one of the reasons why we brought this workshop—to see how we can create more awareness on the Minimum Standard for Safe Schools. What government needs to do, what stakeholders need to do to make schools safe in Nigeria,” he said.
He, however, declared that the next survey this year to ascertain the level of implementation of the safe school policy and confirm school safety will be in 18 states, including Oyo State.
“We are doing another survey this year. And in this next survey, Oyo State is part of it. We are also looking at 18 states this time around to find out the level of safety of children in schools because our goal is to make schools in Nigeria safe and to provide a safer learning environment for students in Nigeria,” he said.
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Mr Eke also made a case for governments at all levels to make some grants available for the running of schools to be able to take small actions when necessary.
“We are saying that there should be small grants for schools. The government is providing, yes. But sometimes there is a gap between the time the government will be able to provide those facilities and the time that the children need to learn.
“There are some schools you would go to where the door of the classroom is pulled off. The school authority needs to be able to take action and do minor repairs for school safety and other issues.
“So we are saying that the government should be able to provide some small grants, just like an impress fund for schools to be able to manage a few things and carry out minor repairs. That’s what we are advocating for,” Eke added.
In his remarks, the state commissioner for education, science, and technology, Professor Abdul-Waheed Adelabu, appealed to UNICEF to ensure that the instrument to be used for data collection in the state should reflect the peculiarities and input of stakeholders from the state to ensure the accuracy of the data.
He assured that the state will partner with relevant bodies and agencies, including UNICEF, to ensure that the schools are safe for students across the state.
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