Picture Credit: @safekidsnigeria on Twitter

Children have to carry backpacks to school. If proper measures aren’t put in place, we have cases of injuries arising from these heavy backpacks. Children carry these backpacks twice a day and five days a week. If they do not have a means of transportation, that means they spend a longer time carrying those heavy bags.

This affects their posture so instead of standing up right, there is a forward head posture. This makes their necks extended for long periods leading to neck and shoulder pain. This posture change leads to pain in the lower back because the body is trying to compensate. The knee also because of change in the walking pattern.

The School Safety Summit 2017 with the theme, “Protecting the Child in School” held on the 17^th May, 2017 at Eden Comfort Place, Ikeja. The Summit was a platform to educate parents, teachers, educators and school owners on the  loopholes in the school safety system and proffer solutions to bridge the gap.

The Summit had senior stakeholders from the Ministry of Education, Lagos State Safety Commission, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the Nigerian Police in attendance.

The event was put together by Ugochi Obidiegwu also known as The Safety Chic. During her speech, she shared her passion for increasing safety consciousness in individuals and business activities which arose due to illness, deaths and loss of businesses to avoidable causes.

The worrying trends of abduction, illness and death in schools led to organising a Summit to equip educators with more knowledge to keep children in their care safe.

Barrister Taiwo Akinlami, a seasoned total child development expert educated the audience on Child Protection policies and the benefits of implementation. According to him, one of the responsibilities of school owners is to protect the kids placed in their care. He exposed the audience to safety scenarios that are usually taken for granted and proffered solutions on the way forward.

Miss Obidiegwu, in her speech also said safety education should be a formal part of school curriculum and not just advice handed down by parents. She advised schools to take advantage of the free Train Them Young Initiative (#2TYI) her organisation runs to equip students with basic health and safety skills. She also encouraged school owners to put in place necessary safety systems and train teachers to handle different emergency situations because emergencies can happen anywhere and anytime.

Mrs Rhoda Odigboh, a curriculum theorist and one of the panelists suggested that a day should be set aside, where safety scenarios are woven into all subjects. “This would help to impart the right knowledge whilst still teaching the original subjects” she opined.

The School Safety Summit had featured in it a panel discussion featuring Mr Taiwo Akinlami, RonkePosh Adeniyi, Adelola Edema, Rhoda Odigboh, Ugochi Obidiegwu and the Panel moderator Victoria Ibiwoye. The discussion covered areas such as safety education in the school curriculum, protecting special needs kids, efficiency of safety systems in school and importance of safety education. The audience had an opportunity to interact with the different speakers.

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