Equip students for volatile world — Adefisayo

…as Change-A-Child Community Initiative held teachers’ workshop 2025

Folashade Adefisayo, immediate former commissioner for education in Lagos State has charged Nigerian teachers to give children under their care the needed tools to navigate the volatile world.

Adefisayo made the call in her keynote address at the GCED Teachers’ workshop held recently with the theme; “Building the Whole Child beyond Literacy and Numeracy.”

Speaking on the topic; “The Art of Teaching a Child to Dream”, she said it is the responsibility of teachers to help a child to dream, though parents have their own roles as well. “You need to help a child to dream. We need to give children the tools to navigate this volatile world,” she said.

The former commissioner for education reiterated that teaching is an unselfish profession, hence, a teacher should not hold back when it comes to helping a child actualise his or her dreams.

She highlighted some essential qualities needed for a teacher to deliver in moulding a holistic child and help them achieve their dreams, such as care and love, ability to create a safe and supportive environment, perseverance and perceptiveness.

“Love and care for all the students, they’re there to bring out the best in you. And you’re the only person standing between them and success; so the way you handle the child matters,” she stated.

Blessing Awamba, founder and chief executive officer at Change-A-Child Community Initiative in her address to over 55 teachers who attended the workshop across the federation, tasked the participants to imagine a world made of only students from their classes.

“What if the world was made up of only your students? Think about the hundreds, maybe thousands of students who first heard about the almighty formula from you, the students whose hands you held as they learned handwriting, the ones who you had to console the first time they stepped into your classroom because they missed their parents, the ones who first learned the definition of a verb from you, as an action and doing word.” she asked the teachers.

Awamba urged the teachers to use their classroom as the bedrock of shaping a peaceful Nigeria, through the subjects they teach, pointing out that through classroom activities, such as actions and inactions, teachers can shape the learners’ views of the world around them.

“Our primary objective is for young Nigerians to put the objective of peace building on the same pedestal as learning Mathematics and English language across the millions of classrooms in our country.

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“May it never be said that our generation raised know-it-alls who indeed knew everything except how to thrive on earth alongside other living things, and how to ensure the sustainable continuation of our planet and its inhabitants,” she said.

Sharing her experiences growing up in a community such as Ajegunle in the early 2000s, where she saw gang members who were school children in the day but criminals at night hurting residents.

“What is a world filled with so many smart people who cannot live together? It is nothing. It will gradually, but surely disintegrate until there is nothing and no one left,” she noted.

Waliu Bomodeoku, an educational psychologist, early childhood and primary education who spoke on “Building Children of Sound mind and Judgment” said the difference between human beings and animals is sound mind.

However, he said that having a sound mind does not automatically translate to sound judgment.

“A man who is of sound mind is one who keeps the inner madman under lock and key,” he said.

Bomodeoku further said that teachers have huge roles to play in nurturing children of sound mind and judgment.

“Children spend between 10 and 20 percent of their waking hours in School. They also spend approximately 180 days in school annually Teachers influence how students think, reason, and make decisions in many ways, especially through modelling,” he said.

The early childhood expert said for teachers to foster sound mind and judgment, they must promote critical thinking, emotional intelligence, growth mindset, and independent learning.

Besides, he urged the teachers to bear in mind that whether they dedicate themselves to enriching the lives of their students or remain indifferent to their growth, they must remember this, their influence is inevitable. “Every action, every word, and every choice shapes the minds entrusted to you. You are a model, whether you embrace it or not,” he said.

Jay Jaehong Kim, a UNESCO-APCIU representative from Seoul encouraged teachers to inculcate in the children under them the habit of helping one another and community support.

“Teach the children that we’ve to help ourselves and our community. Let them learn to live with others, and help the community,” he said.