Participants at the Early Years Children Conference on Saturday, July 9 unanimously called for adequate attention to children from 0-5 years for cognitive teaching, care, training and development.
The Early Children Conference held at Lekki Coliseum, Lekki Lagos had in attendance almost 500 participants, both physically and virtually and was organised by Alpha Global.
Alpha Global is a bespoke UK based Children Service Organisation with a goal to educate, enlighten, empower, enable and encourage practitioners, educators and parents on global best practices for efficient childcare provision.
The founder and CEO of Alpha Global Mrs Caroline Popoola gave an opening speech to attendees and sought that they re-ignite their passion for delivering the best value for early years children.
She stressed good education and teachers will always guarantee transformational value for the children.
In her words, “the age between 0 to 5 is unique for education as this is when the children are moulded, so we need to be conscious of the foundation we lay for them.
“This age is unique to the cognitive development of any child and requires utmost attention”.
She elaborated saying, “we want to collaborate with all the stakeholders in the education sector to encourage good practices and ensure that we are doing it right for the future of our country.”
The Conference also hosted many Industry Professionals, Experts and Government representatives as Special Guests and Speakers to discuss key issues around `Starting Early, Starting Right.
The keynote speaker and former Presidential Candidate Mr Fela Durotoye gave the initial charge stating that children who have been emotionally or physically bruised are like potholes and the dents made on them may seem insignificant.
“The children if neglected will become major problems in the near future. Hence the need to address issues early before they get out of hands.” Durotoye said.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo spoke about, “the Role of Government in Early Years of Education -Regulations, Legal issues and the Curriculum.
She asserted that Lagos State was experiencing population explosion which had a lot of impact on the adequate supervision of schools on the part of the Government, hence all hands must be on deck to arrest the declining standard of education.
“The population of Lagos is growing at an exponential rate as a result of migration by mostly unmarried people. This has resulted in several schools springing up, unfortunately with poor standards.
“For us as a government, we want all children from any background irrespective of status to have access to adequate and quality early years education”. We are also training the next generation of teachers for the state,” she said.
The Special Adviser to Ogun State Governor on Education for Primary and Secondary, Ronke Soyombo shared that parents needed to care for the future generations by starting early with them.
“We need to adequately care for the future of this children now because today is the future and we need to start early,” she said.
Sex educator Guest Speaker, Mrs Irene Bangwell, elucidated about the importance of early inculcation about body safety and self-respect.
Mrs Phinnah Ikeji, a Parenting Teens Consultant from UK shared eight practices for emotional wellbeing for parent and children relationships including peaceful home, Care for each other and respect for each other.
Other practices are respect of different opinions, love in the family, compassion among family members, celebrating each other and peace-making in the family.
The Proprietor of Auscom Private School, Orile Iganmu, Mrs Finea Akunna told NAN that the conference had come with lots of benefits on the best practice for under 5 children.
During the Conference, awards were also handed over to selected schools.
In his statement, one of the Awardees, Aronde Adebayo, Proprietor of Sadek School Ijora-Badiya said, “I got the award based on my philanthropic gesture in empowering the indigent students in Ijora environment.
“I do give scholarships to children whose parents cannot afford to send them to school,” he said.
Other notable guests were Louise Adeniyi from UK, Yemi Adeshina Managing Director SaltLight Group UK, Mr Ade Kelani Trafriq, New York and Niyi Adesanya Firth Gear Plus Consulting.
The conference was wrapped up on July 10 with a virtual Technical Session for Educators and Practitioners.
During the session, Alpha Global’s CEO unveiled the revolutionary Digital Toolkit, a set of Standards, Practices and Processes for Early Years practitioners and educators.
The Toolkit alongside the Tech platforms for Alpha Global were developed by the Tech Partners: Techiefy UK and Sophia ERP Limited, developers of Nigeria’s first ERP (all-in-one) Business Solution.
Mr Conrad Adigwe, the Founder/CEO of Sophia ERP Limited presented the Toolkit to the Global Audience of practitioners and educators, giving them a tour of the innovative digital tool.
At the Technical Session Mrs Yinka Ogunde, CEO, Edumark Consult emphasised on what is required to be an outstanding early years practitioner. Highlighting that training and development for practitioners cannot be over emphasised.
Yetty Williams, Founder, Lagos Mums, spoke about Safeguarding, technology and your school. She shared on how to ensure effective use of technology in schools while still safeguarding the children.
The Technical Session ended with the final charge by Africa Global CEO on leveraging the Toolkit and all they have learnt so far to establish the right standards, processes and systems to enable every child flourish as well as help the schools thrive.
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