Chrisland urges pupils to speak up against bullying

Management of Chrisland Schools has urged students to speak up against bullying and other safety concerns while in school, assuring them that their concerns would be heard and addressed.

 Chrisland Schools’ Head of Risk, Compliance, Safeguarding and Child Protection, Kemi Fajemirokun, made the call during a press conference held at Idimu, Lagos, where she announced the strengthening of its safety and safeguarding system across its schools.

 Fajemirokun said the school recognised that reporting bullying was not always easy for children, particularly when they feared being labelled a “snitch”, facing retaliation or having their peers discover that they had reported an incident.

 She said the school had, therefore, created different avenues through which pupils could raise concerns without fear.

 According to her, the safeguarding system had been strengthened to ensure that learners have safe and confidential channels to report bullying, abuse and other situations that make them uncomfortable.

She said the school’s safeguarding programme was designed to go beyond compliance with regulations by making safety part of the everyday culture of the school community.

 “Our focus is beyond compliance, embedding the whole school safety culture and safeguarding culture for positive character development in every learner,” she stated.

 Fajemirokun, however, pointed out that the school’s approach to safeguarding places learners, parents and staff at the centre of what she described as a “triangle of responsibility”.

 “The children are focused on what they should do; the parents are focused on what they should do; and the teaching and non-teaching staff are also focused on what they should do,” she explained.

 Fajemirokun said the school wanted learners and staff to develop a safety mindset and recognise situations that could expose them or others to danger.

 “We want it to become a culture where every learner, every staff member and every child has a mindset of safety and safeguarding in their DNA,” she said.

 She added that every planned school activity must undergo a risk assessment before receiving clearance, stressing that safety considerations should precede activities rather than be introduced after something goes wrong.

 At Chrisland schools in Ikeja, Idimu, Festac and Victoria Island, she said Designated Safeguarding Officers constantly encouraged learners to report bullying, abuse or anything that made them uncomfortable.

 A designated safeguarding officer at Chrisland School, Opebi, Ikeja, Abimbola Taylor, said that where a child was uncomfortable being identified, the matter could be treated as a general observation without attributing it directly to the child.

 The objective, she said, was to ensure that “nobody will even trace it to whoever has reported.”

 Taylor said the school also provided safeguarding boxes where children who were uncomfortable speaking directly to an adult could write down their concerns and submit them for review.

 “It is a small but significant shift. We are giving children not just instructions about staying safe, but different avenues through which they can ask for help,” she said.

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 She described bullying as unacceptable, adding that every child had the right to express discomfort and seek protection.

 Taylor said concerns were expected to be reported promptly, with a 24-hour window for escalation.

 “Don’t take anything too small or too big. No matter what, within 24 hours,” she stressed.

 She said dedicated incident-reporting email channels operated around the clock, allowing staff to report their observations and concerns.

 The Executive Head of School (Academics), Mr Olusegun Ogunsola, said effective safeguarding must begin with a clear understanding that the school had a duty of care to every child.

 “The child is the focus of everything we do. The child is mainly focused on the fact that he or she is in our care. So, we owe every child the duty of care,” he stated.

 Ogunsola said Chrisland had invested in training staff in safety, safeguarding, child protection and risk compliance through government agencies and external experts.

 He said specialised facilitators were also brought into the schools to strengthen staff capacity, adding that safeguarding could not be treated as an annual conversation.

 Ogunsola said assemblies, meetings, competitions and other school gatherings were used to reinforce safety awareness among learners and staff.

 He added that the school operated a unified safety and safeguarding calendar to ensure that learners received consistent attention across its schools.

 “The second week of every term is dedicated to safeguarding awareness, with activities including talks, seminars, workshops and practical demonstrations. External experts are also invited to engage learners on safety and child protection,” Ogunsola added.

 The Principal of Chrisland College, Idimu, Olubunmi Dosunmu, said the school was strengthening its safeguarding culture by making safety awareness and risk assessment a shared responsibility among staff, students and parents.

 Dosunmu said the approach was particularly important because the college operated a full boarding system, requiring intensive supervision and deliberate safety measures to protect students around the clock.

 “We build a strong safeguarding culture in our schools. The entire community, staff, students and parents need to have it in their subconscious about this subject,” he said.

 He added that the school continuously assessed potential risks and reviewed its systems to respond to changing circumstances, including periods when students remained on campus with fewer academic activities.

 “We are a full boarding school, so we have to be more intensive and more intentional. We are looking at a system that works 24/7. We look at what happens to the children during the day and when they sleep at night, and what the possible changes in school are,” Dosunmu stated.