PROPOSAL TO ORGANIZE LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT TRAINING FOR SECONDARY SCHOOL PREFECTS IN DELTA STATE Leadership in its simplest form

can be depicted as the ability to inspire, direct, motivate and encourage others positively to targeted end. Also, leadership is about rising up to the occasion by organizing and adequately coordinating the resources of time, relationships, skills, expertise etc to achieve a goal for the common good of all Today, a lot is been done to develop the leadership capacity and competence at all fronts, leadership training programmes are organised at different fora for leaders mostly after attaining such positions, yet people hardly ask Were these leaders ever exposed to leadership training albinitio from their youth age?. As a nation, it would do Nigeria much good if we start inculcating these leadership traits from the youthful age, so that as the youths grow up to mount the pulpit of leadership, they would have been well tutored, grounded and equipped with the requisite leadership skills to steer the affairs of the nation. From research, it was discovered that secondary school prefects are not really given orientation training after appointment as school prefects in their respective schools. It has become very clear that most school prefects in whatever capacity they serve have very poor leadership skills to motivate, influence and guide their fellow students on best practices, moral upbringing, educational pursuit and other prevailing vices within the school system. Records have shown also that youths learn good and bad habits from their peers. School prefects are supposed to influence their peer students positively but unfortunately the prefects have little or nothing to
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offer the students because they lack the basic skills and information to influence their peers positively base on the gaps mentioned above. It is in light of the above that XXX is proposing a leadership training workshop for the youths for school prefects in Delta State. The workshop activities are designed to help the participants gain new skills, meet new faces, develop networking and negotiating skills and prepare for greater responsibilities The workshop involves enjoyable experiential activities and appropriate theories that would tailor the participants towards: i. Developing an understanding of their roles and responsibilities ii. Realizing that leadership is not all about fame but service iii. Understanding how to read people and communicate more effectively. iv. Recognising how a great team behaves v. Ensuring that the prefects become role models worthy of emulation. vi. Enhancing their team working skills vii. Identifying the steps to effective problem solving viii. Increasing their levels of assertiveness in more challenging situations. The programme is conceived in such a way that at the end of the workshop, these prefects would go back to their respective schools and with all stakeholders support, be encouraged to duplicate the experiences and leadership qualities acquired at the workshop in such a way to be able to affect and influence the attitude of others positively. It is expected that school prefects like senior prefect or head boy, head girl, labour prefects, refectory prefects, sanitary prefects, games prefects, hostel prefects or house captains working together as a team in their
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schools will be able to assist their school Authorities, Parents and the State Government to curb the social vices and problems found in the school system today.