By Precious Oham
The Ekiti State government and the Adolescent Girls’ Initiative for Learning and Empowerment, AGILE, on Tuesday sensitized male students in public secondary schools on ways to curb Gender-Based-Violence, GBV.
The one-day sensitization programme held in Ado-Ekiti with the theme “Training of Male Students on Gender-Based-Violence Prohibition in Public Secondary Schools in Ekiti State.”
In her keynote address, wife of Ekiti State Governor, Dr. Olayemi Oyebanji said it is important to educate the boy-child on the causes of GBV and how to curb it.
According to her, the concentration on the girl-child had in some cases created unhealthy dichotomy and rivalry between the genders.
Dr. Oyebanji encouraged the students to pass the message to their friends, classmates, neighbours and families on the dangers associated with GBV.
Her words: “Important as it is to empower the female for protection, it is equally important to educate the male child counterpart on prevention of violence to ensure enduring peace.
“I will particularly encourage you to transmit lessons learnt from this engagement to your friends, classmates, neighbours and families. When you do that, then it will not be long before we arrive at the future we desire.”
On her part, Project Coordinator of AGILE, Mrs Yewande Adesua said they want to groom boys that will become responsible men and advocates of GBV in the society.
“We want to catch them young so that they can become gentlemen and total men even in the future and to reduce to the bearest minimum, the spate of GBV in our society.
“Even though male and female are often victims of GBV, the rate is higher with women that’s why there has been a lot of noise around GBV and now protecting women.
“We are not leaving the men behind but we also want to groom our boys because we know they will be men in the future. We want to groom them to be responsible men and becomes advocates of GBV in their society.”
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Trade Union Congress in Ekiti State, Comrade Sola Adigun commended AGILE for the innovation to train male students on how to cohabit among the girl-child in the society.
The event had training sessions on ‘School Gender-Based-Violence (Prevention and Mitigation)’ by a Sex Education Expert and Therapist, Mrs Omolayo Oyawoye and ‘Societal Influence on Genders: The Boy Child and Girl Child’ by Dr. Olofinbiyi Babatunde.
In her presentation, Mrs Oyawoye identified the difference between boys and girls and the stages in adolescent development such as puberty, masturbation and so on.
Similarly, Dr. Olofinbiyi cautioned them on the negative effects of GBV and its preventive measures while urging them to see the girl-child as a responsible human being to learn from.
In her vote of thanks, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Folakemi Olomojobi implored the students to speak up when they face any form of molestation and sexual harassment.