Concerned about the spike of COVID-19 among school children, stakeholders in the education sector have set in motion moves seen at deepening the delivery of basic education in Nigeria by training parents on capacity building in the design and delivery of school’s development plan.
“We think its necessary to call the parents. Even with the pandemic there are lots of out of school children. We believe the home is the foundation of everything, including education. This parents’ forum are representatives from different schools and its meant to build their capacity on school development plan,” said Funsho Owasanoye, the executive director, Human Development Initiative (HDI), at the recent capacity training for members of Parents’ Forum (PF) in all 20 local government areas of Lagos State.
According to Owasanoye, beyond developing the action plan for their schools, members of PF should also understand the various strategies needed to ensure smooth running of the development plan for each school.
She states that as a team, PF members should be able do need assessment; and how best to collaborate with head of the school and even government representatives on the implementation of the development plan.
“Where schools do not have enough teachers, some of them can volunteer to teach. If the environment is not conducive there is no way teaching and learning can be effective; hence the training on building their capacity.
“We want Parents’ Forum to think outside the box on what they can do, so that schools will improve,” Owasanoye stated.
Johnson Ibidapo, programmes coordinator, HDI, said parents are critical stakeholders in basic education. ” We are in uncertain times; it is a very difficult time for the education system in particular,” he stated.
Ibidapo opined that things are no longer going to be the same post COVID-19, which is why there is a need for all relevant stakeholders in the educational sector, particularly parents and teachers to collaborate in ensuring better delivery of basic education in Lagos. “Government cannot succeed at such a time without support of parents.
“The challenges of the education system is so large that it is impossible for government only to solve it. This is why we are training people like this to see how they can contribute their quota to solving these problems,” Ibidapo stated.
Olufuilayo Alakiu, chairman, PF, Express Nursery and Primary School, Ikosi, said parents have been collaborating with school management to provide non-pharmaceutical materials to ensure safety in public schools.
According to her, government should provide for more classrooms to help curb the spread of the pandemic, especially to create more for social distancing among the pupils in class.
Aliu Adeyemo, chairman, PF, Oshodi-Isolo local government, said he will support the Lagos state government ‘leave no child behind’ initiative to the best of his ability.
Adeyemo states that in reducing the number of out-of-school-children in and around Oshodi-Isolo, members of PF in the local government area will be mobilized to ensure those out of school children are brought back to school.
