Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti
The Ekiti State First Lady, Dr. Olayemi Oyebanji, has enlisted school-age boys in the fight against Gender-based Violence (GBV) to prevent the occurrence of the menace among students in the state.
Speaking in Ado Ekiti recently while delivering an address at the ‘Training of Male Students on Gender-based Violence Prohibition in Public Secondary Schools’ in the state, Oyebanji stressed that male students needed to be equipped with the basic knowledge on the menace in order to curb it in the society.
The governor’s wife noted that the battle against the scourge of Gender-based Violence in schools in particular and the society in general may not be totally won if schoolboys are not given the right orientation and enlightenment on its evils.
The training, which was sponsored by the World Bank-assisted Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), was attended by school administrators, teachers, officials of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASUSS), Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Ministry of Education, among others.
Oyebanji emphasised that it was of utmost importance to adequately educate the male child on the prevention of violence to curb abuse of fellow students in schools, especially girls, and to ensure a peaceful society devoid of gender violence.
According to the first lady, “All the efforts to make our schools and community spaces safe for our female students cannot be effective until the male gender is adequately trained on the causes and effects of their choices and actions.”
She further encouraged the participating students not to be selfish with the knowledge acquired at the training but to share with friends and neighbours to aid desired violence-free society.
Also, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Adebimpe Aderiye, said the state government is working out modalities to ensure a brighter future for the young ones, urging them to reciprocate the gesture by being passionate and obedient to good counselling.
Also, the state AGILE Coordinator, Mrs. Yewande Adesua, encouraged the students to make judicious use of the training and focus their attention on both their studies and other moral lessons.
In their goodwill messages, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Sola Adeluyi; her counterpart from the Teaching Service Commission, Mr. Michael Omolayo, and state ASUSS Chairman, Sola Adigun, who commended the state government for carrying the boys along, said it was dangerous to limit GBV training to girls alone hence the need to keep the boys aware of the menace.
During the training session, the resource persons, Mrs. Layo Olawoye, a sex educationist, and Prof. Babatunde Olofinbiyi from the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital took the participants through preventable measures against all activities that could affect their future negatively while attaining puberty age.
