Oromoni: Lagos Initiates Measure To Curb Bullying, Accidents In Schools

The Lagos State Government has introduced Safe School Lagos (SSLAG), an initiative to prevent a repeat of the incident that led to the death of Sylvester Oromoni, a 12-year-old student of Dowen College.

According to the state government, the initiative is a proactive measure to curb bullying, cultism, and auto accident among others in both the public and private schools across the state.

This was disclosed by the state’s Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folashade Adefisayo at a workshop organised by the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC), tagged “School Safety Initiatives Workshop”.

The commissioner, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Abayomi Abolaji, said apart from the measure being in place to curb bullying in schools, the government has started identifying schools on major roads that are prone to an auto crashes, in order to prevent reoccurrence of the incident that occurred at grammar school in Ojudu area.

He noted that the schools on the highway would have speed breakers and traffic lights while officers like Neighborhood Watchers, Federal Road Safety Corps, and Lagos Safety Commission would be engaged to ameliorate the situation.

LSSC Director-General Mr Lanre Mojola explained that the whole essence of the safe school initiative is to ensure that the school environments across the state are safe while the students are made to cohabit within a conducive learning atmosphere.

Mojola stressed safety measures are very important in order to ensure physical safety, disease control, discourage bullying and alcohol abuse, as well as train the school owners on how to ensure schools are safer.

‘Safer schools produce safer children and safer children are the bedrock of the future. So what we shall be doing is to meet school operators and engage them on how we can make safety the fulcrum of the curriculum within the schools.

‘How we can ensure that teachers teach basic principles of safety and ensure children interact in a safe environment. Safety begins with you and zero accident is possible if we all work together and in a safe environment.’

He added that the workshop centred on owners of boarding schools in Lagos State as the Commission would soon extend similarly the exercise to other stakeholders.

Others at the event emphasised high-quality standards, quality parenting and community involvement for safety to be achieved.

They also suggested a systemic approach to manage safety in schools and colleges as well as ensuring total compliance as people should see safety as part of their daily lives.