Advocacy for Positive Behavioral Patterns Initiative (APBPI) has begun a campaign to shape students’ behaviours for positive change across Federal Capital Territory (FCT) secondary schools.

APBPI campaign team director Bamidele Mann said this on Thursday while kick-starting the campaign at Government Secondary School, Life Camp, Gwarinpa, Abuja.

Mr Mann said the campaign’s purpose was to promote character development and enhance positive change among Nigerian students and society at large.

APBPI organised the campaign in collaboration with the FCT Secondary Education Board.

Sani Ladan, the secretary of the FCT Secondary Education Board, said that part of the board’s mandate was to raise good students.

Mr Ladan stated that the board had counsellors whose function was to help students shape their behaviours for positive change. He said the challenge was that students came from various homes with different characters.

The board’s scribe recalled that in 2023, the board developed, published, and distributed an anti-bullying manual to schools to check the menace of violence in the FCT education system.

He commended the efforts of APBPI for partnering with the board to make a difference in FCT schools.

Akerele Irene, the principal of Government Secondary School, Life Camp, Gwarinpa, Abuja, said fostering positive behaviour patterns to safeguard children and ensure a hospitable environment was imperative.

Rinsola Abiola, the senior special assistant to the president on citizenship and leadership, urged the students to embrace education, which would add value to their lives.

She described education as the balance wheel of the social machinery that students must take seriously.

Ms Abiola also described the transition from childhood to adulthood as a period with many changes that impact behaviour differently. She also advised the students to take the lead in conflict resolution.

“The tendency to let things escalate while in adolescence can be traced to several reasons, including behavioural changes which teens undergo as they make their transition into adulthood,” she said. 

(NAN)