The Director, Co-Curricular Services, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mrs. Marion Babs-Akinyeye, has commended the Spirit of Lagos for initiating the Students Challenge, an innovative platform for secondary school students in the state to proffer solutions to some of the social problems within their communities.
Mrs. Babs-Akinyeye made the commendation at the unveiling of the Students Challenge initiative at the Ministry of Education, Akoka, Lagos when students from select public schools in the six Local Education Districts in the state made presentations on how they would solve some of the challenges they face in their localities.
She said such an initiative was in tandem with the State Government’s efforts in ensuring overall development of various communities within the state.
“We commend the Spirit of Lagos for creating this wonderful platform for the students of the state to deploy their creativity in bringing about solutions to the challenges they face in their respective areas. We are impressed by the students’ display of creativity and great ideas that will complement the efforts of the state government in moving the state forward”, Mrs. Babs-Akinyeye stated.
She also commended the teachers for their efforts in grooming the students, which she noted were reflected in their project ideas as well as their presentation.
Speaking at the event, Olaniyi Omotoso, Project Director of the Spirit of Lagos said that the 2015 Spirit of Lagos Students’ Challenge was designed to enable students come up with ideas that they could work on as part of their contribution towards ensuring the restoration of the past glories of Lagos State.
He said that the Spirit of Lagos is a behavioural transformation initiative that challenges Lagos residents to restore, share and protect those values that made Lagos great, adding that the Challenge would enable students from the participating schools to come up with ideas that they could work on and that would at the same time improve the Lagos community.
Each of the participating schools was represented by a team of students who presented their project ideas, using scientific tools, equipment and drama, to a panel of judges. These students stated the source of their materials, their proposed mode of execution and how it would improve their communities. Omotoso informed the participating schools that they have up to three months to bring their ideas to life.
Ifesowapo Aboru Senior Secondary School, Alimosho proposed a device for heating up waste products such as plastics and cellophane to produce crude oil. Government College Ketu, Epe focused on the need to have maintenance culture as a habit in order to protect school infrastructure and other public infrastructure. They also came up with SOT (Save Our Treasure) and DIY (Do It Yourself) as slogans to drive maintenance culture among students and Lagos residents while Gberigbe Community Grammar School, Ikorodu identified ways of managing waste in their school.
Ajara Senior and Junior Secondary in Badagry are working on security consciousness and facilities within the school community. Agidingbi Senior Secondary School, Ikeja, isolated reading culture encouragement among students to improve success rates. The team from Ideal Junior and Senior Girls’ Secondary School, and Obele community Junior and Senior Secondary Schools’ project is on transforming the dilapidated sports field into a standard one.
