Lagos State Government has enjoined parents and students to stem cultism and harassment of teachers and other school personnel in public schools.
The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Jamiu Alli-Balogun stated this on Tuesday while admonishing students on how to navigate challenges as teenagers in a decadent society. He spoke during the annual Ramadan Lecture organised by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education at the Lagos State Secretariat Mosque, Alausa, Ikeja.
The Commissioner informed parents on the need to pay attention to children’s upbringing and reset back to communal living when every adult helps to correct children who cross the line of acceptable behaviour.
According to him, “Ramadan period is an opportunity to remind ourselves of the need to tackle bullying, cultism and harassment of teachers by students through the aid of miscreants”. He warned that Lagos State will not condone unruly behaviour in schools.
Alli-Balogun further advised that parents need to collaborate more with the teachers and schools so that moral decadence will be eradicated. He said once parents do the needful by paying rapt attention to their children and correcting them where necessary, then the work of teachers and schools will not be overwhelming.
He charged stakeholders in the education sector to use the opportunity of the spirituality that comes with Ramadan to change the narrative in training their wards. The Commissioner further stated that Muslim parents and students must take full advantage of the Ramadan period to pray for forgiveness of sins and seek Allah’s favour for their families, Lagos State and Nigeria.
He enjoined students and pupils in Lagos State public schools to always put in their best in external examinations to justify the investment of the State in education and equally appreciated the teachers for the good job they do and appealed to them to brace up more and put Lagos State back on top in all external examinations.
The Commissioner also appreciated the efforts of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration in ensuring that Lagos State always shines and has become a reference point of success for other states.
The Guest Lecturer, Dr. Noah Lawal, a senior lecturer at the Department of Foreign Languages. Lagos State University, Ojo, delivered a comprehensive lecture on the topic ”Navigating the Challenges of Teenagers in Decadent Society; An Islamic Perspective.”
He mentioned social vices that serve as manifestations of decadence which include drug abuse, alcoholism, rape, kidnapping, cultism disobedience and examination malpractices amongst others.
He also described various challenges faced by teenagers such as peer group influence, get-rich-quick syndrome, poverty and family dysfunction which made it difficult for teenagers to focus on doing the right thing and advised parents on their responsibility to ensure proper upbringing and for the students to always draw the line between evil and values.
