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INTRODUCTION
Every curriculum review exercise is usually necessitated by some gaps identified in the existing curriculum. Some of these gaps identified in the existing primary and junior secondary curricula (basic education) are obsolete content that are out of date with modern challenges, subject over-loading and inability to achieve acquisition of entrepreneurial skills, strategic communication skills and functional literacy and numeracy. One way NERDC has closed these gaps in the 9 – Year Basic Education Curriculum is to infuse emerging issues into the relevant contents in a systematic manner for all class levels. Some of these emerging issues are Family Life/HIV/AIDS, gender, environmental degradation, human rights, peace and conflict resolution and drug abuse.
The philosophy of the 9 – Year Basic Education Curriculum states “every learner who has gone through 9 years of basic education should have acquired appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life-skills as well as the ethical, moral and civic values needed for laying a solid foundation for life long learning, as a basis for scientific and reflective thinking” (Obioma, 2006). This, in essence lays emphasis on functional and utilitarian education necessary for the survival of the individual.
It is against this backdrop that the topic of discourse; ‘Child Safety Education” becomes very relevant, appropriate and deserving of a great focus and attention since it is seen as one of the emerging issues in education.
It is pertinent at this point to define important terms that would assist our understanding of the topic as well as delimit the scope of the subject. These terms are child, safety and child safety education.
DEFINITION OF TERMS
CHILD:
A child is someone below the age of 18. For the purpose of this discussion we would classify a child into two groups, early childhood or pre-school learners and late childhood or Basic/Post Basic learners. Early Childhood starts from age 0-5. At this time, safety is of paramount importance as the child is restless and boisterous. Adults and Caregivers are expected to ensure the safety of these children by teaching them the rudiments of safety. Late Childhood starts from age 6 – 18. These are school children from Primary to Senior Secondary Schools or Basic and Post-basic learners. For the purpose of Child Safety Education, therefore the scope is delimited to children at this level.
SAFETY
The dictionary defines safety as a state of being protected, uninjured, out of danger, secured, not involving risk. All safety directed to the child is to keep him/her alive and secured. For example, there are many areas where we ensure safety for the child. These include safety from harm, from abuse e.g. rape, from disease, from malnutrition, from hazardous activities, like hawking, street trading, bus conducting, street begging etc, from substance abuse, from road accidents.
CHILD SAFETY EDUCATION
This refers to an orderly, sequential process of change in which a child learns about how to survive, protect himself/herself against all forms of danger. This would necessarily involve education in many emerging areas such as Drug abuse, Environmental degradation, Human rights, Road safety, all targeted to protect the child from harm. These areas are interconnected and have a great deal to do with safety. For instance, a child who is under the influence of drugs while driving would constitute a great danger to himself/herself and other road users.
APPROACHES TO CHILD SAFETY EDUCATION
NERDC has gathered a lot of experience over the years in dealing with emerging issues targeted at young people. Family Life/HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse Education are ready examples. In mainstreaming emerging issues into the school system, two major approaches have been adopted. These are Curricular and Co-curricular approaches.
Curricular Approach:
The first step in this approach is to structure the concepts, contents, themes and messages of child safety education into a special Curriculum. A few core subjects known as carrier subjects are then selected where the Child Safety Curriculum contents would be infused and taught in schools. Some of these core subjects are English Studies, Social Studies, Cultural and Creative Arts and Physical and Health Education. For many reasons, ‘Child Safety’ would not be a ‘Stand alone’ subject in school. This is because the curriculum is already overloaded, and an attempt to add a new subject would be resisted. The infusion approach therefore becomes an effective and acceptable way of mainstreaming emerging issues into the school curriculum.
Co-curricular Approach:
Experience with young learners has shown that they learn quite a lot of things from their peers who they trust sometimes, more than adults. These peer educators can therefore be trained in the area of Child Safety and given the responsibility to pass on information to their mates and other members of the community. This approach would involve the Formation of Safety Clubs in Schools where members learn a lot about Safety and are therefore equipped to educate others in the Community. The need for the development of Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials for this purpose cannot be over-emphasized at this stage.
STRATEGIES FOR CHILD SAFETY EDUCATION
Safety education is multi-sectoral involving Road Safety officials, agencies that manage disasters, e.g. NEMA, Curriculum experts, teachers and community members. There is therefore the need to involve all these people in any programme on safety to make it all encompassing and acceptable. Six major strategies are recommended for this exercise. These are Planning meetings, Curriculum development workshop, Infusion workshop, Development of teachers’ Manual and other IEC materials, teacher Orientation/Peer Educators’ Training and Printing/Distribution of Materials.
Planning Meeting:
The various stakeholders listed earlier should come together for a planning meeting. It is at this meeting that the objectives, contents and concepts of Child Safety Education are articulated, and plans made for future activities of the project. Three (3) days may be sufficient at this stage.
Curriculum Development Workshop:
This would involve curriculum development activities such as Content selection, Teacher and Students’ activities, Learning Materials, Evaluation procedures etc.
Five working days may suffice to accomplish this assignment.
Infusion Workshop:
It is at this stage that the Curricular of the Carrier subjects are studied and various points of infusion are identified. The developed Child Safety Curriculum is then infused into the various carrier subject curricula.
The experience of subject teachers and other curriculum experts are invaluable at this stage. This workshop may be accomplished in five days.
Development of Teacher’ Manual and Other Instructional Materials:
As this is a novel area, instructional materials would need to be developed. These materials which include Teachers’ Manual, Posters, and Handbills are targeted at teachers and students for their orientation as well as students’ club and community activities. Depending on the number of materials to be developed, one to two weeks may be sufficient.
Printing and Distribution of Materials:
The develop materials need to be printed in sufficient quantity as they would be utilized for future orientation for teachers and peer educators.
Teacher Orientation and Peer Educators’ Training:
Selected teachers in the carrier subjects are trained to handle “Child Safety education”. These teachers would serve as lead trainers who will train other teachers in their zones as well as train peer educators and monitor the activities of the Safety Clubs. A – ten day training workshop may be adequate for the teachers while fewer days would be needed for peer educators.
FUNDING:
Judging from the various steps involved in the mainstreaming of Child Safety Education in schools, one would expect that a lot of money would be involved. This is at the stage the collaboration of the various Stakeholders would yield meaningful results.
Funding support would therefore be expected from Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), International Development Partners such as UNICEF, UNESCO, UNFPA, WHO, The Community e.g. P.T.A., Churches Mosques and Philanthropic individuals. NERDC would be ready to provide proposals for the activities as well as technical support.
CONCLUSION
Child Safety Education is imperative because the convention on the Rights of the Child stipulates that children have a right to live and develop to their full capacity. Education in safety provides them an opportunity to achieve this. A programme in Child Safety should be used as an entry point for developmental activities which will benefit the community thereby encouraging, Public-private partnership in education. Finally it will ensure the survival of many more children as they are prepared early enough for safety issues.
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