ADDRESSING ABUSES IN SCHOOLS, A COLLECTIVE EFFORT – LASG
… INTEGRATES SCHOOL SOCIAL WORKERS INTO EDUCATION SYSTEM
Lagos State Government has called on all stakeholders in the educational sector to make the wellbeing of school children a priority, stressing that all hands must be on deck to address the myriad of challenges threatening the success of academic activities in all schools across the State.
Speaking at a sentizization and awareness programme for stakeholders in school social work at Alausa on Friday, the State Commissioners for Youth and Social Development, (Mrs.) Uzamat Akinbile –Yussuf, her Home Affairs counterpart, Abdul-Hakeem Abdul-Lateef and other dignitaries at the event underscored the need for all concerned stakeholders to come together and collectively address the abuses presently ravaging the educational sector.
Akinbile-Yussuf said the State government has incorporated schools’ social workers into Lagos public schools to engage daily with school administrators, teachers, parents and members of the community in providing guidelines for designing school policies and also identify crises areas.
According to her, “School social work is a branch of social work charged with the responsibility of linking the schools, the home, the community and students to achieve academic success and emotional wellbeing. School social work service is the process of providing help for school children facing challenges of abuse and students who are victims of social vices that could be detrimental to their educational career.”
The Commissioner said that social workers would counsel and help students with learning problems, maximize the student academic functioning and improve wellbeing, provide students with special learning opportunities, monitor students’ level of success, among other functions.
She noted that the State government is keen on ensuring a stable and unhindered academic career for all school children in the State; hence its investment in school social work services to provide quantitative services to the school children.
The Commissioner urged parents, teachers, caregivers, proprietors/ proprietresses, non-governmental organisations and school children to identify areas of synergy with the State government in order to align with its vision of providing quality education to the residents of the State.
Akinbile-Yussuf implored the students to report all cases of abuse without fear because sexual abuse is capable of debarring their altitude in life, stressing that they should not die in silence or ignorance.
“Presently there are 200 social workers across the State and more of them would be engaged in coming years and they would be exposed to relevant training in school social work services,” the Commissioner stated.
Similarly, the State Commissioner for Home Affairs, Abdul-Hakeem Abdul-Lateef charged the students to be success conscious and choose their friends instead of their friends choosing them.
He advised social workers to make themselves more accessible to the students who could see them as the last resort if their parents are not approachable or too busy to attend to their needs.