The Lagos State government has stated that it is ready to remove any impediments that prevent children from receiving adequate safeguards and protection in schools throughout the state.
To that end, the state’s Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency is forming partnerships with relevant stakeholders to address the issue following the state’s Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy.
Speaking at a joint visit exercise of the Lagos State Task Force on child safeguarding and protection in the state, the Executive Secretary of the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency, DSVA, Mrs. Titilola Vivour-Adeniyi, said the meeting was convened to review the report that was conducted last year on the level of compliance with the policy of safeguarding and child protection in schools.
Vivour-Adeniyi maintained that besides the review, the meeting would enable them to chart a course for improvement on how to scale up safety of children in schools, stressing that the earlier visit to some schools in the state gave them the opportunity to know the level of exposure of some schools to safety measures.
“We thought it was expedient to visit these schools and ascertain the level of compliance and to look at the Lagos State Safeguarding and child protection policy and over a period of three months, we were able to engage about 601 schools from the six education district and we were also able to physically visit 271 schools and to conduct on the spot assessment.
“We got feedback that 145 of these schools have adopted the safeguarding and protection policy. However, there were some areas that we needed to assist the schools in improving so as to ensure the safety of children at schools in Lagos State.”
She acknowledged the efforts of the state governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu and his deputy, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat for their commitment to ensuring that the letters of the safeguarding and child protection policy come alive and the policy is fully implemented.
Going forward, she said the task force is looking at the full implementation of policy that provides safeguarding and child protection officers who will most often serve as child councillors.
She said: “We are looking at empowering those officers, to build their capacity so that they could be able to detect red flags, detect child change in behaviours, more importantly, to be able to know the referral part to be adopted once such disclosures are made, either to them directly or indirectly.”
“And we are also looking at the location of school, the number of teachers and the students and fire safety, healing bay in the school. The entire framework of safeguarding and protection is what we are committed to as a state and the Lagos State joint task force on safeguarding and child protection.”
In her keynote address, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Mrs. Toyin Oke-Osanyintolu, called for more cooperation among stakeholders with the government to ensure the safety of schoolchildren.
The Permanent Secretary, who was represented by Director, Schools Social Works Services, Mrs Mujedat Oladipo said the meeting would allow the relevant MDAs to identify the problems observed during the school engagements and proffer solutions, recommendations and ways out of the challenge.
“This will ensure that all the observed gaps are corrected and ensure that the schools that are not in line with the Safeguarding and Child Protection Policy are made to comply through adequate sensitization and education for the well-being and safety of all the schoolchildren in Lagos state,” she added.
Specialised Trainings
Others at the meeting called for specialised trainings for guidance counsellors as well as ensuring continuous sensitization of the communities and parents on sexual and gender-based violence, child abuse, and all its effects, among others.
Members of the Lagos State Task Force on Child Safeguarding and Protection include officers of the Office of Education Quality Assurance, Ministry of Basic Education, Ministry of Youth and Social Development, Lagos State Safety Commission, State Universal Basic Education Board, Local Government Education Authority, Education Districts and Child Protection Network, among others.
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