Ministry, expert call for integration of social work services in Lagos schools

Lagos State Ministry of Youth and Social Development in concession with an expert in Adult Education at the University of Lagos have called for the integration of social work services in the education system of Lagos State.

The ministry’s commissioner, Mrs Uzamat Akinbile-Yussuf, said the need for social work services in Lagos schools became imperative following the growing cases of crime, child abuse, faulty parenting and other children related anti-social behaviours in the state.

Speaking during a sensitisation and awareness programme organised for stakeholders in school social work in Alausa, the commissioner disclosed that proper integration of social workers in schools will arrest critical children challenges that impair their education.

She said that in the past, “school children, who had been identified to have cultivated anti-social behaviours, had been counseled and sent back to school, while in extreme cases, had been placed for further social intervention in various Correctional Homes across the state”.

“It has, however, become imperative for school social workers to engage with school administrators, teachers, parents and members of the community to provide guidelines for forming school policies, identifying crisis, reporting and addressing same in a way that is culturally and legally acceptable”.

Speaking on the model design for the “proper integration” of social work services in schools in the state, a Professor of Adult Education from the University of Lagos, Oluwayemisi Obashoro-John insisted on the engagement of a social worker in every school in the state, remarking that the current status of one social worker in the district headquarters of 200 schools was based on challenges that include, “inadequate understanding of the need for social workers in schools”.

She said  that the “one social worker per school” design was achievable and significant.

“It is achievable. We could start in pellets. We already have two social workers in SUBEB. There are about six districts in Lagos State, so, if we can identify one school in each district and then send a social worker to the school, we can monitor the impact.

“The benefits would not be automatic. But within a space of time, the impact would be felt as we improve on the services and roll in more workers. Currently we are far behind. We don’t have enough workers, but we can start gradually. We need to catch up with the rest of the world,” she said.