NIEPA, UBEC partner, train principals, headteachers on violence-free schools

Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Professor Olivet Jagusah, has said a safe, secure and violence-free school environment during emergencies cannot be jettisoned for Nigeria to fulfil the SDGs 4.

Professor Jagusah, who spoke at the opening ceremony of a three-day national training workshop for principals and head teachers of Junior Secondary Schools in Nigeria, held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, said apart from the place of safe, secure and violence-free, the principals and headteachers also needed enhancement with the necessary skills and knowledge to put necessary logistics in place in their schools, saying this “is very important.”

Prof Jagusah, who was represented by Dr Sunday Adegbesan, the Head of the Training and Research Department of the Institute, informed the audience that the workshop was a collaboration between Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and NIEPA, saying it was to enhance Effective School Management, Safe and Secure Environment During Emergencies.

Dr Adegbesan said the workshop, held simultaneously in various centres across the South-South and South-East regions, would also take place across all the geo-political zones of the country in the coming weeks and that the scope of the training programme would include quality assurance officers and school supervisors of respective SUBEBs.

He stated that schools had “a unique potential to generate an environment where attitudes condoning violence can be changed and non-violence behaviour can be learnt and stressed that “from children’s early years, schools are well placed to break patterns of violence and provide skills to communicate, negotiate and support peaceful solutions to conflicts.

He said, “schools also offer children the possibility of learning and internalising values of solidarity, tolerance, and respect, and they serve as important resources for the promotion of non-violence and for overcoming tension and mediating conflicts among pupils and staff, and also beyond, in the wider community.”

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Adegbesan further said, “this training workshop is part of NIEPA’s effort to improve your skills, knowledge and to imbibe in you the spirit of attitudinal change for better service delivery in all the facets of your school administrative principles to achieve the goal of Basic Education in Nigeria which Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) is entrenching on daily basis.”

Also at the opening ceremony, Executive Secretary Bayelsa SUBEB Chief Victor Okubonanabo restated the Board’s commitment to functional education through regular training of its staff. Speaking through the Director of Teacher Professional Development, Mr Elisaba Jaja, he stated that the workshop had in attendance teachers across the state drawn from both the primary and junior secondary schools to ensure that teachers are abreast of current information to manage and influence the upcoming generation of students to be future agents of positive change.

According to him, Bayelsa SUBEB will continue to be committed to prioritising education and will continue to invest in initiatives that impact positively on the development of the sector. He commended UBEC’s choice of NIEPA Ondo to facilitate the workshop as brilliant.

Mr Esaliba acknowledged that NIEPA is a seasoned institution for capacity development in the education sector while also calling on relevant agencies of government to give NIEPA all the support it needs to continue to play its crucial role in empowering the education sector workforce.

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