BY OLUFISOYE ADENITAN
The Ondo state Government with Support from its Partner, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, WFD has launched an E-Learning Platform on Child protection and safeguarding policy in the state .
The platform is an online Learning tool for School counsellors and School administrators to for the coordination of child protection and Safeguarding tagged VAPP at Schools.
At the launch in Akure, The Commissioner for Education, Mr Olufemi Agagu said that the platform was created to equip school counsellors with adequate knowledge to educate students on their rights and report cases of sexual violence through the platform for monitoring and Action.
Mr Agagu represented by a Director in the ministry, Mrs Olufunke Ademuyiwa commended WFD for its support towards improving advocacy in the protection of children’s rights in schools.
Representative of the wife of Ondo State Governor, Mrs Temitope Daniyan said the state had intensified efforts on curbing sexual violence through Domestication of the VAPP Law and setting necessary machinery in place for the implementation.
In his submission, the Country Director Westminster foundation for Democracy, Mr Adebowale Olorunmola who said the platform was to make school counsellors learn the basics of child protection and the VAPP law appealed to school Counselors to make judicious use of the platform for the set objectives
Earlier, the Ondo state Director of Counsellors, Dr Joseph Oyadeyi Said professional counsellors in schools had a lot to do in spreading the information to their wards as well as internalise their profession by showing empathy and love to the students.
In his presentation on the Development of the child protection and Safeguarding learning platform, A legal practitioner, Mrs Olaifa Oluwatoba noted that the platform was an easy tool for counsellors to get adequate knowledge and information that would ease their job on educating the students on the position of law on Sexual and gender based violence.
Some of the counsellors who spoke with Positive FM, Dr Evelyn Olajide from CAC grammar school Iju, Akure and Dr Ayodele Ojo of the Baptist high school Idanre promised to use the E learning platform to change the narrative of coordinating and educating students in their schools.