The Ekiti State Government has urged students in the state to properly utilize the numerous initiatives provided to them by the State Government to build a bright future for themselves.
Speaking in Ado-Ekiti during the opening of the Safe Space Holiday Empowerment Bootcamp for public secondary school students in Ekiti state, the Commissioner for Education, Dr. Olabimpe Aderiye said the bootcamp was aimed at empowering the girl child through vocational skills, character building, and networking.
Aderiye who represented by represented by the Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary, Michael Omolayo commended the leadership of the Adolescents Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project for bringing up initiatives that benefit the girl child.
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She reiterated the Governor Oyebanji-led administration’s commitment towards creating a conducive environment in ensuring that girl child education thrive in the state.
She said: “This bootcamp is the idea of his Excellency, to bring about an enriching experience for the girl child and these enriching experiences cover vocational skills, character development and to grant them the opportunity that they cannot just learn in a classroom setting.
“This is the second edition, we had the first edition in 2024 but this one is an expanded edition because we are having two batches for it. It’s like a coaching experience, exposing the girls to challenges ahead with the spirit that they can overcome them”, she added.
The State AGILE Project Coordinator, Mrs Yewande Adesua, said that the purpose of the bootcamp was to accommodate students from different schools to build friendship, networks and interact freely without being intimidated.
She explained that the bootcamp would expose the students to various skills, including Basic Signs Language, Digital Skills, and Empowerment Skills like Adire making and decorations.
“This is organised for girls across public secondary schools in Ekiti State where we are holding safe space sessions across some of our public secondary schools.
“The purpose of this is to bring our girls together, selected from different schools so that they can network and make friends, establish standing friendship that can last a lifetime because there’s a saying that your network will determine your net worth.
“This bootcamp is an avenue for our girls to be vulnerable without feeling bad about themselves, this will enable them to have courage and confidence in themselves.