NGO honours principals, teachers for promoting gender equality

By Stanley Onyekwere

An Abuja-based nongovernmental organisation (NGO), Sure Smiles Women and Children Advocacy Initiatives, has bestowed award of excellence on 45 principals, school heads, head teachers, headmasters and headmistresses in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for promoting gender equality in their various schools.
Founder/president of the NGO, Dr (Mrs) Chioma Uzo-Udegbunam, who presented the award to the beneficiaries, explained that the beneficiaries were selected because of their outstanding contributions towards promoting gender equality, gender tolerance and for setting up functional gender clubs in their schools.
Uzo-Udegbunam said the award, tagged: Sheroes Award, was meant to appreciate and encourage the beneficiaries to do more and to motivate other principals, head teachers and school heads in the FCT to set up gender clubs in their schools, to encourage gender tolerance and equality.
She added that the essence of the award was also meant to raise awareness among students and pupils in the FCT against the incidences of rape so as to reduce it to zero level.
“The bottom line is that there has been a state of rape in FCT. We are fighting to reduce the incidence of rape and to bring it to a zero level.
“So, we are raising the awareness through this award and then to encourage other head teachers and principals to increase the awareness among their pupils,” she stressed.
The founder/president of the NGO disclosed that the beneficiaries were drawn from public schools in the six area councils of the FCT, adding that the ceremony, which is the first of its kind in the FCT, would henceforth be held every year.