NGO trains 1,300 schoolgirls in vocational, life skills in Oyo

THE Youth Employment Foundation (YEF), a non- governmental organisation says it has started training 1300 girls in 13 secondary schools in Ibadan in vocational and life skills in order to enhance positive changes among youths.

YEF executive secretary, Iwalola Akin-Jimoh, who disclosed this at a one-day stakeholder meeting for education stakeholders in the state, said the project was sponsored by Standard Chartered as part of its corporate social responsibility.

According to her, the NGO has different programmes in five key areas namely health, education, sports for development, children for protection and livelihoods.

She said:  “The aim of the programme is to train girls in every school secondary schools in Oyo State. We train them in different vocations, such as hairdressing, sewing, baking and information technology.

“Through this effort we want everyone to know that in our small space we can do a lot to move the country forward, we don’t have to depend on the government.

“We want is a situation where young people are empowered, not only by their academics, but also by a way of earning income. We want them to know that their communities are their immediate spaces through which they can make changes,” Jimoh said.

YEF coordinator at Onireke High School, Mrs Aderonke Adeleke, testified that the programme had been running in her school in the last four years.

Adeleke affirmed that every year, girls are recruited and trained in life skills and on life goals in her school.

“Part of the skills acquired by the girls are on budgeting, decision making, and goal-setting, among others. I particularly like the training on gender-based violence which teaches the girls on how they can handle it.

“The programme is making a huge impact on the lives of the young girls; we are seeing changes in their lives; in the way they think and behave. The girls pass the training unto others as they are trained and that is making a huge effect on the general population,” she also said.

She advised that the programme receive more funding and encouragement by integrating it into the regular school curriculum.

“The government, through the Ministry of Education, can incorporate the programme into the school curriculum. The two weeks break we usually have after examinations can be allotted YEF to train the students.

She charged the foundation to come up with programmes that could also accommodate the boys, saying “if we train girls to be good and curvy and we neglect the boys, we should not forget that these girls will end up with such boys.”

“Let us look at the possibility of also training the boys in some particular areas so that we can have a balanced environment,” she said.

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