‘Place less emphasis on certificate acquisition’

The Chief Executive Officer, Teens Resource Centre, Lagos, Mr. Martins Akpan, has advised parents to shift their focus from education of certificate acquisition to education of creativity for their children.

Akpan said this during the award presentation ceremony to winners of the 2013 Teens Favourite Award in Lagos.

“Parents should help their children to discover their hidden talents and help them to develop them rather than exposing the children only to formal education,” he said.

According to him, many pupils fail external examinations because their parents have pressurised them to believe that they could only become successful in life through formal education alone. Some of these children, he said, could not handle such pressure and this become counterproductive as they come out of school a failure.

“I’m not saying that formal education is not good; but we should go to a higher level of encouraging our children to discover their hidden and latent talents. We should help them develop these skills. But now we are only looking at just certificates, if we can have a new orientation and let them have total education that comes with academics, creativity and discipline, these youths will definitely excel in what they do,” he said.

After the opening remarks, awards were presented to winners with Bobo Foods and Beverages Nigeria Limited,  makers of Bobo milk drink and Boyic Yoghurt, winning the  2013 Teens Favourite Award for its contributions to the educational development of kids in the country. Its Boyic Yoghurt won the Teens Favourite Yoghurt, drink while the Lagos State Waste Management Authority won the Teens Favourite Environmental Friendly Organisation.

In the Nollywood category, Oge Okoye won the Teens Favourite Actress while Joseph Benjamin,  won Teens Favourire Actor. A five-year-old musician, Ozzy Bosco, won the Teens Favourite Child Artiste.

Akpan, whose firm organised the annual award, said the event was aimed at projecting youths and those that have contributed to the development of teenagers.

Different individuals and cooperate organisations were presented with awards. Among them were the Proprietor, Access International Schools, Dr. Jonathan Akpan, who was honoured for his philanthropic gesture towards the youths.