81ts JCCE Brainstorms on Creating Safe Environment for School Children 

Daji Sani in Yola 

The Adamawa State Governor, Mr. Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri, has  expressed  delight to host the 81st Joint Consultative Committee on Education (JCCE)  in the state to discuss critical issues that would provide security for Nigerian schools in the middle of the current  insecurity bedeviling the nation.

Fintiri made the disclosure yesterday at a five-day meeting of the 81st JCCE held in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.

He said: “It is an honour to be with all the participants and critical stakeholders in the education sector in Nigeria.

“The theme of the 81st conference of the Joint Consultative Committee on Education (JCCE) which is: “Strengthening of Security and Safety in Nigerian Schools for the Achievement of Education 2030 Agenda,” is not only apt, but wouldn’t have come at any better time than now.” 

Fintiri, who was represented by  the State’s Deputy Governor, Mr. Crowther Seth, said this was coming at the time when the school system is endangered; when parents and guardians are worried over the plight of their children in schools due to the fear of unsafe learning environment.

“When even the children are perpetually enveloped by apprehension attendant upon by daily tale of insecurity in the land; no doubt, a forum for charting the cause for strengthening the security and safety of our schools is an opportunity,” he said.

Meanwhile Fintiri said his administration has long realised how important it is to reposition the state’s school system. 

“For us, there’s direct correlation between a safe, secure and conducive learning environment and an efficient education system and human capital development which occupies a central place in our 11 Point Agenda. 

“It is indeed our duty to ensure that no life is lost while teaching or learning and no teaching or learning process is impaired due to psychological upset imposed by fear.

“While government has a duty to carry on the responsibilities of the provision of the required infrastructure, I must add that we all have vital roles to play: school managers, facilitators, teachers, administrators, role models, parents and guardians have to play these roles responsibly.

“It is indeed, one thing, to secure the schools from external aggression and an entirely, different thing, to keep the schools safe from internal vulnerabilities.

“On this note, I want to thank the Federal Ministry of Education, for giving Adamawa State the privilege to host 81st Conference.

 “I am indeed optimistic that your deliberations would not only be fruitful in charting a more productive cause for safe school system but might ignite a whole ingenious thought process for conducive learning environment and indeed the entire reform of the education sector in Nigeria,” he said.

Also, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Andrew David Adejo, observed the need to remove the opportunities for children to be exposed to habits that will fuel insecurity in order to address the current security challenges in schools. 

Adejo said: “In other words, we need to address issues of drug use, putting an eye on the kind of books they read and films they watch, appropriate mentoring for our wards and children and reviving the age-old African culture that ‘every child belongs to the community’ that is responsible for making majority of us here who we are today.” 

He urged Nigerian to begin to take full advantage of all the opportunities presented to them by the federal and state government, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), development partners and relevant stakeholders.