The Cece Yara Foundation, a Child Advocacy Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), has trained 200 government teachers and educators in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) on child protection.
Mrs Adedoyin Immanuelson, the foundation’s Programmes Administrator, during a day training on Tuesday in Abuja highlighted the crucial role of teachers and educators in ensuring child protection.
The Cece Yara foundation works to prevent child sexual abuses and provide emergency intervention for children who have experienced abuse or risk being abused.
“This programme is for teachers and educators in FCT to have well informed knowledge on child sexual abuse and how to handle cases as first responder in schools.
“The idea is for them to know how to handle sexual abuse, manage it without revictimising the victims, know how to report it and prevent it,” she said.
She said that the essence of the adult awareness programme was to ensure that teachers created safe spaces for children, adding that more training programmes were being scheduled to accommodate more teachers and schools.
She urged teachers to be available, accessible and approachable for children and students to confide in and report cases of abuse without fear of being blamed and revictimised.
Mrs Bernice Simnom-Bako, the Gender Mistress at Government Secondary School, Wuse Zone 3, appreciated the training.
“This training has exposed me to the different forms of child abuse, ways to identify an abused child, traits of an abuser and actionable steps to ensure the safety of the child and actions against the abuser,” she said.
Simnom-Bako called for the sustenance of the training and urged parents to also contribute their quota to child protection to reduce the burden on teachers and educators.
Mr Kalu Osonwo, a Mathematics Teacher at Government Secondary School Jabi, also commended the training and called for its sustenance to accommodate all stakeholders in the social welfare and child protection sector.
NAN reports that the training had participants drawn from no fewer than 20 secondary schools in the FCT.
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