Schools have been urged to move beyond responding to safety incidents after they occur and adopt systems that identify, assess and address potential risks before children are harmed.
The call was made at Child Safety Outreach 3.0, convened by Adejumoke Sangolana, founder of SafeKids Foundation, where safety professionals and education stakeholders advocated a more structured approach to protecting children in schools, at home and across increasingly complex environments.
Founder, Foundation for Sustainability, Excellence and Human Development (FESHD), Jamiu Badmos, in his keynote address, said effective child safeguarding requires institutions to understand their vulnerabilities, assess risks and establish systems and standards capable of preventing harm.
“Safeguarding failure is a system failure,” Badmos said.
According to him, institutions should move through three levels of safety management, from reacting to incidents, to preventing them and ultimately predicting what could go wrong before it happens.
He said risk assessment is central to the predictive approach because it enables institutions to identify vulnerabilities and introduce appropriate controls before they result in incidents.
Badmos also emphasised the importance of embedding safety standards into institutional systems and culture rather than treating safeguarding as a response to individual failures.
He further linked child safety to children’s mental wellbeing, raising concerns about inadequate sleep, declining attention spans, reduced physical activity and children’s increasing dependence on online relationships and artificial intelligence tools.
Chief Amuwa Richard, President of the Child Safety Education and Protection Initiative (CSEPI), also called on schools to strengthen their safety systems rather than wait for accidents or security incidents before taking action.
Richard said teachers and school authorities have a responsibility to identify and address potential threats to pupils, stressing that prevention must remain central to school safety.
He also raised concerns about kidnapping and children’s exposure to social media, urging parents to become more involved in their children’s online activities.
According to him, schools should understand their specific vulnerabilities and implement measures that reduce risks before incidents occur.
Mrs. Bolanle Edwards, founder of Strap and Safe Child Foundation, highlighted the growing risks children face in digital spaces, warning that increased access to the internet and social media has created new avenues through which children can be exposed to exploitation and other forms of harm.
According to Edwards, protecting children can no longer be limited to preventing physical dangers at home or in school, as children increasingly interact in digital environments where parents and teachers may have limited visibility.
“Safeguarding requires adults to pay attention to circumstances and behaviours that could expose children to harm, including identifying unsafe acts or unsafe conditions before they develop into more serious incidents,” she said.
Her intervention added a digital dimension to the traditional understanding of child safety, highlighting how children may remain physically secure while still being vulnerable to inappropriate content, strangers or harmful interactions online.
The scale of the challenge extends beyond digital safety. Figures presented from the World Health Organization indicate that as many as one billion children between the ages of two and 17 experience physical, emotional or sexual violence globally each year, highlighting the magnitude of the safeguarding challenge facing families, schools and communities.
Online environments have added another layer to that vulnerability. Information presented from UNICEF showed that about 20 million children across 21 countries experienced online sexual exploitation or abuse within a single year, demonstrating how technology has expanded the spaces where children can encounter harm.
“The changing nature of these risks means child protection must increasingly involve recognising potential dangers early rather than waiting until an incident has occurred,” Edwards stated. “Parents, schools and other adults responsible for children need to understand that safeguarding now extends beyond the physical environment into the digital spaces children occupy every day.”
The need for practical safety education remains central to the work of SafeKids Foundation.
Sangolana said the initiative initially began around the promotion of a child safety book but later expanded after organisers recognised that educating children alone would not be sufficient.
“We realised that we needed to educate the adults as well because the children are under their care,” Sangolana said.
She explained that the foundation subsequently adopted a two-sided approach that combines safety education for children with equipping parents, teachers and other adults responsible for them with appropriate safety knowledge and skills.
The third edition of the annual outreach brought together parents, school staff, safety professionals and other stakeholders for lectures and practical sessions, including first aid, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Sangolana said many schools do not give safety training the same level of attention they give academics, partly because they lack sufficient information and capacity in the area.
She said addressing that gap has become one of the major objectives of the foundation’s annual outreach.
Speaking during the panel session, he distinguished between a hazard, which has the potential to cause harm, and risk, which considers both the likelihood and severity of harm when exposure occurs.
Oyinloye said schools should consider the different hazards children may encounter in their everyday environments and put appropriate controls in place to reduce risks to a level that is as low as reasonably practicable.
The panel session also featured Mrs. Funmi Okeowo, former Tutor General/Permanent Secretary under the Lagos State Ministry of Education, District IV; Mrs. Ajoke Oshokoya of the Lagos State Safety Commission; and Samuel Udoh Bassey, a digital safety expert, who contributed perspectives on education, institutional safety and emerging risks affecting children.
Femi DaSilva, founder and Chief Executive Officer of HSENations and convener of the Africa Safety Award for Excellence (AfriSAFE), stressed the importance of translating safety knowledge into practice, noting that effective safety goes beyond awareness to the consistent application of safe behaviours.
DaSilva, who pledged continued support for the Child Safety Outreach, said sustained action was necessary to strengthen the culture of safety and protect children.
“This is just the beginning,” DaSilva said. “There’s so much more that is left to be done.”
The Child Safety Outreach 3.0 was strengthened through the support of partners who shared the vision of creating safer environments for children.
The initiative received support from The Trusted Advisors Legal Practice as the Guardian Sponsor, while Finsbury Heinz Ltd and Kevron Group served as Beacon Sponsors. Donations and awards for the programme were supported by Hybrid Group, FMN/Golden Penny Foods, Chi Ltd, Rapid Vigil Security Ltd, Debmart Food Hub, Shaddle Kiddies, Fam & Lon Voyage Ltd and Roy’n’Ross Fabrics.
The outreach was delivered in collaboration with Sustainable People, HSE Nations, 312 Events and Living Vines Mental Health Foundation, bringing together organisations committed to advancing child safety, wellbeing and community impact.
Sangolana said feedback from participants would be collected and compiled to identify remaining gaps and improve subsequent programmes.
She added that lessons from the third edition would guide future interventions as the foundation continues working with schools, families and safety stakeholders to build safer environments for children.
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