Lions Quest Nigeria, implementer of Lions Quest Skills for Adolescence a programme of the Lions Clubs International recently trained 145 secondary school teachers in Lagos and Ogun states.
Lions Quest is a life skills and prevention programme. It teaches young people skills necessary for everyday success such as learning to accept responsibilities, setting goals for healthy living, building self confidence, communication skills and service learning, managing emotions, improving peer relationship, strengthening family relationship as well as making healthy choices.
The body trained the teachers in a three-day intensive workshop as the most important step in the implementation process of the Lions Quest programme. The group said: “This is because the programme is curriculum-based and teachers to implement it must be certified. Those certified are issued international certificates which enable them teach the programme anywhere in the world.
Implementation of the Skills for Adolescence of Lions Quest began in Nigeria in 2013 in private schools and as at today, more than 20 schools are implementing the programme. The plan is to introduce its implementation in public schools in the near future. Over 3,000 students are currently benefiting from the programme in Nigeria. This has been made possible with the previous Teachers Training Workshops that were held in 2013 and 2015.
The 2017 workshops were anchored by a Lions Quest Senior Trainer and Coach, Mrs Archana Bhatt from India as well as Mr. Kola Oyekanmi and Ms Olapeju Paraiso. In order to reduce the associated costs of organising teachers training workshops in Nigeria and meet the expansion needs of the programme in the country, both Oyekanmi and Paraiso have also been certified as Lions Quest Trainers.
According to the country coordinator of Lions Quest, Kola Oyekanmi, the expansion of the implementation of the programme in Nigeria will widen the scope of prevention of many youths from the dangers of smoking and the risk of using and abusing drugs and alcohol.