Secondary school students in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have commenced the 2023 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) supported pilot schools sewing championship tagged SSCP2023.
The SSCP2023 was initiated by a non-governmental organisation, Ladi Memorial Foundation (LMF), in collaboration with the FCT education secretariat and supported by UNESCO.
Speaking at the event, minister of state for education, Goodluck Opiah commended the LMF for the initiative and stressed that functional vocational skills acquisition would serve as a solution to unemployment, social vices and related problems of out of school children.
The minister urged the participants to maximize the opportunity of the programme to acquire skills that will make them self-reliant.
In her remarks, the executive director of LMF, Mrs Rosemary Ojochenemi Osikoya, said the initiative was designed to sensitize the general public and targeted stakeholders on the benefits of vocational education and livelihood skills development.
She said the pilot sewing contest would draw 54 participants from schools across the six area councils of the FCT who will undergo a 5-day intensive training at a boot camp after which three winners will emerge.
Osikoya said participants and participating schools that would emerge 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions at the final competition would get sewing machines and sewing equipment as prizes.
According to her, the targeted beneficiaries/ groups include young adults aged 12-20 years who are enrolled in both formal learning centers (JSS and SSS) and out of school youths or learners in non-formal learning centers in Abuja.
She said the initiative would contribute to sharpening perception/reducing stigmatization associated with vocational education, while at the same time providing a credible interactive platform to incentivize young adults of school age to commit to acquisition of functional vocational skills.
