The Lagos state government has said it is committed to putting a stop to cases of bullying across schools in the state through its Safe School Lagos Initiative.
The lead resource of the initiative, Dr. Bisi Esuruoso, made this known on Wednesday, while addressing newsmen in Lagos.
Esuruoso also disclosed that the government was ready to work with the parents, noting that their involvement was needed to achieve the cause.
He said, “We are doing something about bullying and we are also working with parents because bullying develops at home most of the time. When you see a child in the early years beat another child, we the experts know that the child has been hit. And in a conducive environment where everybody knows what they are doing, they will invite the parents because we don’t do what we have not learned to do. So when a young child starts to smack that means the child has been smacked.
“Bullying is an area that we are working closely with and we have a different team of people working. They are into mental health because sometimes there are more issues that are causing a child to react the way he reacts and the majority of those issues are from him.
“So we need to train educators because we understand by observing a child to know the subtle side of abuse because a child that is being abused is most likely going to abuse other children as well either through bullying or become withdrawn which is not good for their mental health.”
Esuruoso further explained that the greatest cause of safety infractions in schools is lack of supervision.
She also noted that the state government no longer allowed free periods in schools while citing it as a recipe for disaster.
She said, “There are safety infractions when children are not supervised all the time. When you go into some schools and you see free period. Any school we go to and we see free periods, we fail them because a free period is a recipe for disaster. Have you ever seen anyone even at the age of 21 that will do anything purposeful alone without
“So when teachers now leave the children alone and you now say it is a free period, we don’t allow that again in Lagos State. When children are together and they are not well supervised, that is when you see all these problems that creep up in the school. Because they may just be playing and when the playing becomes rough, then it becomes hazardous. So children are faced with risk when they are not well supervised.”
She added that the initiatives’ forthcoming Beacon of Safety Award Conference scheduled to hold in Lagos on September 26 will recognise schools that have shown relevant commitments to the SSLAG framework, and implemented innovative strategies to create a safe and welcoming school environment for students, staff, and visitors.
