NGOs educate FCT teachers on mental health awareness

Last updated Apr 28, 2023

A non-governmental organization, Jela’s Development Initiatives (JDI), which focuses on voluntary blood donation, access to clean water, mental health and youth empowerment through volunteering, has commenced a four-day training to educate public secondary school teachers in Abuja environs on mental health awareness.

According to its founder, Angela Ochu-Baiye, mental health will improve teachers’ creativity and efficiency in the classroom as well as their mental fortitude.

Similarly, the Mandela Washington Fellow and Lead Collaborator in Vote023 Project, said that the training was in partnership with the TY Danjuma Foundation.

The project was titled; ‘Teacher Training, Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy for Effective Curriculum Delivery in Public Schools in the FCT’.

Ochu-Baiye explained that JDI was inaugurated by the TY Danjuma Foundation to enhance access to quality education by improving the standard of teaching in the FCT.

“This project seeks to address the challenges of ineffective teaching methods and poor understanding of mental health.

“Lack of cooperation and knowledge sharing amongst teachers, lack of conducive work environment and insufficient instructional materials in public schools in the FCT.

“The focus of this project on mental health will improve teachers’ creativity and efficiency in the classroom as well as their mental fortitude.

“It will also create a platform for teachers to share their experiences with one another for peer-to-peer learning,” she said

Ochu-Baiye further added that part of the objectives of the project was to build the capacity of 40 teachers in the FCT on improved pedagogy methods. She noted that the method would lead to an increased classroom impact and provide access to basic mental healthcare.

According to her, it will also create awareness of the subject matter for effective curriculum delivery amongst the teachers in the targeted areas.

She said, “The project was partitioned into four key activities of teacher training, provision of basic mental healthcare, establishment and management of Telegram Teacher Community as well as media engagement or advocacy.

“Strategic stakeholder meetings with policymakers flagged off a recently penned 5-year social development partnership between JDI and the TY Danjuma Foundation” she added.

The Chief Executive Officer, TY Danjuma Foundation, Mr. Gima Forje, said that “There’s a big mental health awareness gap in our society. So, we at TY Danjuma Foundation thought an effective approach to fill this gap was by targeting teachers through robust, bespoke training to improve curriculum delivery and teaching outcomes.

“Hence, the partnership with JDI, an organization that has credible antecedents in this project area,” he said.

Wumi/Punch