21ST CENTURY SKILLS TRAINING 4 KIDS IN NIGERIA

In an ever evolving world, where if the neccessary skills needed to face the day-to-challenges of life is not acquired, the society as a whole suffers from it. Olive Community Development Initiative team led by the Programs Manager visited Ibeakon Academy today 17th of February 2022, to educate the pupils on Learning and Innovative Skills.

The session commenced with the Program Manager requesting the pupils available to introduce themselves (to which the pupils even went further to make it more interactive by stating the meaning of their names to the OCDI team and other pupils), after which the Programs manager added that one of the most important aspect of learning skills is what they have just done which is Communication .

Furthermore, the Program Manager introduced to the pupils the four C's of learning skills, which are;

• Critical Thinking

• Creativity

• Communication

• Collaboration

She asked the pupils if they understood any of the four C's listed above. Lekan a Junior Secondary School student, who has interest in fashion designing and is currently training as a fashion designer alongside going to school said he understands creativity as ability to create something new to solve a particular issue(s), the program manager further explained that it is the ability to think outside the box and look for new ways to get things done to achieve a set goal. She gave example of people who make use of scraps or the readily available things in the environment to create furnitures, torchlight and toys to play with.

Afterwards, the Program Manager talked about Communication and asked the students what it means to them. Dorcas another student from Junior Secondary School added that communication is the means of passing information from one person to another, after a round of applause from the programs manager, she explained to the pupils that if there is no feedback from the receiver, communication is yet to take place. She also mentioned that the channels of communication differs based on who the receiver is and what message the Sender is passing across. She also noted that in Physical communication eye contact is very important as this helps to build confidence and esteem.

The lessons on communication was further reinforce by a roleplay section where the students took turn to pass an information across to another person With the use of flip charts and markers, accompanied with practical sessions, the program manager went further to educate the pupils on the four C`s of learning skills and its relevance to todays society as a whole.

After the sessions, the program manager enquired from the pupils if they had learnt anything during any of sessions.

Aisha a Junior Secondary School pupil said and i quote "I thought of just myself before to achieve my goals and objectives little did i know that working as a team improves my chances of suceeding, but know i will work together with friends to achieve my goals as you taught us on collaboration".

Segun another pupil added that before the explanation on communication, he did not know that communication is not complete until there is feedback, but after the session he now fully understands what Communication really is. 

On Wednesday 13th of June 2021, Olive Community Development Initiative carried out a sensitization on the importance of digital literacy on career choice and vocations with female students from Government Day Secondary School, Airport, Ilorin, Kwara State.

The program manager of Olive Community Development Initiative kick started the program by introducing participants to the various social media platforms available such as youtube, whatsapp, lindln, facebook, instagram, etc.

After enquiring from participants what they wish to become in life, the following professions were mentioned Singing, medcine,Designing, Farming and Dancing. The Program manager went further to enlighten particpants that no matter what they aspire to become in life, the use of social media handles will enable them to be well know all over the nation and the world as a whole.

A pratcical session was carried out with participants to ensure they understand and know how to access the various social media handles available to them.
In addition to the above, participants were also introduced to graphic design, by listing and explaining the importance of the basic elements of graphic design, a session which was very interactive as pupils picked interest and some wanted to even become graphic designers in the near future.

After the sessions, the pupils were asked to enlist what they have learnt so far, the following were the response gotten;

Idris Junior Secondary School 3 (13 years old)
I thought there was a cloud Some where ,which enable graphic designer to do so well, that i was afraid it’s something I Could never do on my own .
But after the session on creativity i feel relieved of all worries knowing that the beauty of designing is in the brain of the designer.

Mary Junior Secondary School 3 (16 years old)
I usually see different designs on my way from school but it never crossed my mind that design has elements but after the program today, when i see any design, i will be able to identify the basic elements of graphic design on it.

Opeyemi Junior Secondary School 3 (14 years old)
From my childhood, i never had the idea that a woman/traders of food items like pepper, tomotoes and groundnut could make use of social media handles but now am well equiped with the knowledgethat i can even become an expert in selling goods online.

Nafisat Junior Secondary School 3 (15 years old)
I aspire to become a singer and before this training, i never imagined i could do recordings and poston social media handles like; facebook, youtube, and instagram myself. As a result of the training, am so excited with the knowledge that i can become a star with just posting my recordings myself on social media handles.