By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
A Bauchi based Non Governmental Organization known as Journalists for Public Health and Development Initiative (J4PD) has urged primary school teachers to be vigilant and monitor any tale tell signs of Gender Based Violence in pupils.
J4PD also called on the teachers to inculcate attitude of reporting anyone that touches, behaves or subject them to any unnatural behaviour.
The call was made on Tuesday by the Coordinator of J4PD, Ms. Elizabeth Carr at an interactive session with teachers of Meenas Scholars Academy, as part of J4PD’s activity marking the 2022 16 Days of Activism to end GBV, which is being commemorated Worldwide.
The Coordinator said that as teachers, they spent quality time with the pupils and that as such they should be vigilant and monitor any negative behaviour in their pupils.
Ms. Carr reminded the teachers of their roles as models and character moulders, and hence the need to adopt classroom approach on GBV issues.
“As classroom teachers, there is need to monitor pupils’ behaviour and actions, especially those actions that portends bullying and daily attitude of pupils.
“Some are jovial but could show attitude or remain quiet in class for a day; this can be a signal that the teacher needs to ask questions or communicate with parents.
“The child can experience GBV at home and that too can change his or her normal behaviour.
“Let’s tell our children to be gentle and protectors of girls right from early years, it might change issues around GBV”, said Elizabeth Carr.
Earlier, Mr. Boniface Kasam, USAID IHP Knowledge Management and Communication(KMC) Specialist, emphasized that gender violence is not restricted to a particular gender but could happened to both male and female.
Kasam said that school teachers are stakeholders in ending GBV at the formative stage of children.
He acknowledged and commended the contribution of J4PD in organizing the interactive session with the teachers as key stakeholders in ending GBV in Bauchi State and the nation at large.
Responding on behalf of the teachers, the school administrator of Meenas Scholars Academy, Mrs Fatima Abubakar, appreciated the J4PD for selecting the school to commemorate the 2022 16 Days of Activism to end GBV which she described as historic.
She pledged that school would develop plans and strategically incorporate methods and modalities to address GBV into the school syllabus.
“It is a thing of joy to have to interact and discuss on the scourge GBV that is bedevilling our communities, we are honored.
“We will incorporate ways to address GBV in subjects like Social studies, Civic education and other subjects, in a user-friendly manner to ensure that learners are cautious on GBV using simple teaching aids,”she said.
Our correspondent reports that the activity was supported by USAID-Integrated Health Program(IHP).