Foundation trains 83 Ondo students in leadership skills

From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure

Students of various secondary schools drawn from different parts of Ondo State recently converged in the state for one day summit on leadership development.

The summit, which was part of activities to mark this year’s children’s day, was put together by the Servant Leaders Foundation, a Non Governmental Organization based in Akure as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility.

Experts in the education sector drawn from both within and outside the country who spoke at the summit made case for improvement in the funding of education to ensure an improve standard of education in the country.

The lead speaker at the summit who is a renowned educationist, Dr. Toyin Ajayi while speaking on the theme of the summit “Audacity: Stories that Dare us Forward” urged the government at all levels to increase the allocation of resources to the education sector.

This, he said will boost the sector and increase the standard of education at both the primary and secondary schools levels.

The United Kingdom based teacher who bemoaned the standard of education in the country also called for a review of the school’s curriculum at both the primary and secondary schools.

He attributed the falling standard of education to poor funding of the sector, and urged the government to improve the yearly budgetary allocation to the education.

Ajayi lamented that Nigeria has the least budget for education in the world, a development, which he said has negative effect on the nation’s education system..

Besides, he expressed worry on the quality of some teachers in the country, stressing the need for educators to be well trained and disciplined in order to train the students well for ultimate results.

While urging the government to transform the nation’s education landscape, Ajayi appealed to the government to develop the public schools in the country for optimum productivity.

“Education should be well developed at all levels to serve its purpose of providing solutions. The falling standard of education in Nigeria is as a result of poor funding of the sector by the government. The government should encourage consistent training for teachers,” he noted.

Speaking at the summit, Mrs. Obadamilola Ipinmoye urged the youths to be involved in endeavors that will bring out their best, just as she admonished them to be bold and not lose hope in the country.

She encouraged the youths, especially those in school to pursue their vision with vigour and endeavor to achieve all their dreams, even as she advised them to study themselves with a view to discovering themselves.

The Team Lead of the foundation, Damilola Oluwatosin stressed the need for the youths to equip themselves ahead of future responsibilities.

She said the youths should be able to take up responsibilities from their youthful age and build themselves for the task ahead of them in the future.