From Ifeoma Ejiofor
Justice Development and Peace Caritas (JDPC) of Nnewi Catholic Diocese in collaboration with the JDPC Onitsha Ecclesiastical Province, has carried out a reorientation intervention program for secondary school students.
The intervention was implemented in three selected schools under JDPC Nnewi jurisdiction.
The schools that benefitted from the reorientation program included; St. Augustine Secondary School, Mbosi, Queen of Angels Secondary School, Nnewichi, Nnewi, St. Patrick’s International Secondary School, Ichi.
The programme was developed in response to the growing concerns about moral decline, indiscipline, peer pressure, and negative behavioral patterns among school-aged children.
The program was necessitated by rising cases of drug abuse, cultism, violence, disrespect to authority, and general ethical decay among students.
The JDPC team led by the Director, Rev Fr Benedict Chima Okolo addressed the students, while Anadu Nchedo, also a staff of JDPC delivered structured presentations based on the prepared lesson modules.
The sessions for the students focused mainly on integrity, honesty, respect for duely constituted authority and peers, empathy, compassion, responsibility, and the consequences of negative values.
The JDPC intervention aimed at promoting moral reawakening among students through direct value-based sensitization as well as reduce unethical practices and strengthen responsible behavior.
It also aimed at building students’ self-awareness of the effects of value choices and enhance teacher reinforcement capacity for moral guidance, introduce peer mentorship concepts through value reorientation.
Onyekachi Ololo led the students in a question and answer session to test their comprehension of the subject matter during the JDPC engagement.
Commenting on the program, school administrators, teachers, and students who participated in the enlightenment outreach expressed gratitude to the orgamizers and commended JDPC for addressing value decay among youths.