A group, Jela’s Development Initiatives (JDI), says mental health will improve teachers’ creativity and efficiency in the classroom as well as their mental fortitude.
Its founder, Angela Ochu-Baiye, said in a statement on Thursday that it was against the backdrop that group held a four-day training for public secondary school teachers in Abuja.
Ochu-Baiye, a Mandela Washington Fellow and Lead Collaborator in Vote023 Project, said the training was in partnership with the TY Danjuma Foundation.
According to her, the project was titled; ‘Teacher Training, Mental Health Awareness and Advocacy for Effective Curriculum Delivery in Public Schools in the FCT’.
Ochu-Baiye said that JDI was inaugurated by the TY Danjuma Foundation to enhance access to quality education by improving the standard of teaching in the FCT.
She said: “This project seeks to address the challenges of ineffective teaching methods and poor understanding of mental health.
“Lack of cooperation and knowledge sharing amongst teachers, lack of conducive work environment and insufficient instructional materials in public schools in the FCT.
“The focus of this project on mental health will improve teachers’ creativity and efficiency in the classroom as well as their mental fortitude.
“It will also create a platform for teachers to share their experiences with one another for peer-to-peer learning,” she said
Ochu-Baiye said that part of the objectives of the project was to build the capacity of 40 teachers in the FCT on improved pedagogy methods.
Mandela Washington Fellow noted that the method would lead to an increased classroom impact and provide access to basic mental healthcare.
According to her, it will also create awareness on the subject matter for effective curriculum delivery amongst the teachers in the targeted areas.
“The project, partitioned into four key activities of teacher training, provision of basic mental healthcare, establishment and management of Telegram Teacher Community as well as media engagement or advocacy.
“And strategic stakeholder meetings with policy makers, flagged off a recently penned 5-year social development partnership between JDI and the TY Danjuma Foundation,” she said.
She said that the mental health report on teachers would be released at the end of the project.
Mr Gima Forje, Chief Executive Officer, TY Danjuma Foundation, said: “There’s a big mental health awareness gap in our society.
“So, we at TY Danjuma Foundation thought an effective approach to fill this gap was by targeting teachers through robust, bespoke trainings to improve curriculum delivery and teaching outcomes.
“Hence, the partnership with JDI, an organization that has credible antecedents in this project area.
