IDISD CELEBRATES 2019 INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY WITH FOCUS ON QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL

IDISD CELEBRATES 2019 INTERNATIONAL YOUTH DAY WITH FOCUS ON QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL

“The foundation of every state is the education of its youth” -Diogenes

The theme of International Youth Day 2019, “Transforming education”, highlights efforts to make education more relevant, equitable and inclusive for all youth, including efforts by youth themselves. (See https://www.un.org/development/desa/youth/news/2019/04/iyd-2/)

IDISD BOT with teachers-volunteers and some students of the Summer Lesson Programme at the Pakata LGEA school, Ilorin, Kwara State.

The role of education in any society cannot be overemphasized. Kwara state as one of the fastest-growing states in the northern Nigeria needs to specially focus on the quality of its education especially at Primary and Secondary school levels. This important task cannot be left in the hands of the state government alone as other stakeholders like Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO), companies, individuals, among others need to join hands together in executing programmes that will help in ensuring equal access to quality education in the state.

August 12, is set aside by the United Nations (UN) for the celebration of International Youth Day. In commemoration of the 2019 International Youth Day, the Impact Driven Initiative for Sustainable Development (IDISD) keyed into the 2019 Youth day’s theme by organizing a meeting session with teachers and students of its ongoing Summer Lesson Programme to evaluate the impact of the programme and improve on the challenges.

There is a common saying that ‘education is the best legacy’. Starting with Summer Lesson, IDISD encouraged and deployed community youths as volunteers-teachers to inculcate in our teenagers; academic knowledge, relevant skills and attitude they need to pass their exams and excel in this modern competitive word. 

Dr. Oladele Hanafi, president Board of Trustees (BOT) explained that IDISD started the Summer Lesson and made it free because it wanted to ensure that the students were well engaged during the holiday and were given opportunity to undergo educational training and assessment that would help them in improving their performance.  He appreciated Mr. Ismail Yunus, the Lesson Coordinator, for his commitment and stated that the organization has plans to reward students and teachers that performed well during the programme.  

Mr. Olanrewaju Rabiu Hanafi speaking with one of the students

On his own part, Mr. Olanrewaju Rabiu Hanafi, Secretary of the BOT, explained that the organization had the plan to further engage the youth in other areas of community development after the end of the Summer Lesson. He stated that Team shirts would be given to the teachers-volunteers after the meeting, and they would also be issued volunteering certificates at the end of the programme. Counsellor Isiaka Gafar, a member of the BOT, also made it known that the organization would also be providing career guidance talks to the students in order to prepare them mentally towards their future chosen career.

Aside teaching of subjects in the programme, there would be opportunity for the students to learn indoor games like chess and scrabble. These are brain developing games which the students unfortunately had no knowledge of. Experts and professionals have also been invited to take the students on modern concepts like climate change and entrepreneurship.

The programme is not without its challenges. The major challenges as pointed out by the Teachers are the problems of punctuality and absenteeism of the students. Responding to these challenges, Counsellor Gafar stated that Low level of seriousness is a general phenomenon in the state, especially among the Senior Secondary School (SSS) 2 and 3 students. Some of the solutions proffered are proper orientation of the students; and also placing of calls to the parents/guardians of students.

Without playing your part; without volunteering for good organizations like IDISD to improve the quality of education, the future of Kwara state could be in danger. EA opined in one of his popular speeches on the youth, he said, "The youth are 100% of our future”. If that is the case, let's take care of them.

 

Written by Ojeniyi Ayobami Abimbola

Edited by Olanrewaju Rabiu Hanafi