Kuni Tyessi in Abuja
Teachers in federal government colleges across the country have been charged to cultivate security consciousness in the minds of their students.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono gave the charge at a sensitization meeting organised for the teachers on ‘Education in Emergency Preparedness and Response’, in Abuja recently.
Echono, who was represented by the Director of Tertiary Education, Mr. Joel Ojo, regretted the growing rate of insecurity in the country and by extension in schools, stressing the urgent need to awaken security consciousness and preparedness in school communities.
He cited cases of fire outbreak, flooding, virus epidemic, kidnapping, building collapse and breakdown of law and order as some of the incidences recorded.
He particularly made references to the fire incidences at Federal Government Colleges Efon-Alaye and Daura; as well as the recent virus epidemic at Queen’s College, Lagos. “There is therefore the need to prepare staff and students for the unexpected.â€
Dr. Judith Giwa-Amu of UNICEF painted an unfortunate scenario of a promising student of Government Girls Science College, Dapchi in Yobe State, Amina, whose hope of becoming a medical doctor has been dashed by her kidnap on February 19, 2018.
According to her, if some measure of security consciousness was in place, the unfortunate incident may have been averted.
