Dansol exposes students to basics of e-voting, good leadership skills
In a society, where free and fair election appears to be unfeasible, even with the electronic system of voting, Dansol High School, Agidingbi, Lagos, has demonstrated to students that credible election is still possible.
Sighting the e-voting hall, the orderliness and uniformity of voters, one would think it is a gubernatorial election. But it is not! It was the school’s prefect election.
Vice-principal of the school, Mrs. Fabukunwa Olayinka, who explained why the school invested so much in the exercise since it is just an ordinary internal politics, said: “There is nothing ordinary about leadership, we are raising Christian leaders, professionals, responsible citizens that would take over the leadership of this country someday.
“So part of the leadership process that is acceptable globally is a democratic system of government, and this will give them room to exhibit the leadership potentials they have, and be able to convince the voters as a community to put our trust in them. So, the process started with the disciplinary committee certifying that they are upright and people of integrity. As we know, you cannot give what you don’t have.”
Chairman of the electoral committee, Mr. Atobalo Oluwole, explained that the exercise started with the screening of students who showed interest.
On the lessons of the exercise, he said: “The major lesson for them is to be morally upright, and also to beware that the actions of today, might affect them tomorrow. We are training them to be global leaders; they can’t tell where they may find themselves in the future.”
“We don’t want a situation whereby they graduate and someday intend to vie for a political seat, only to find out that they have a dirty record.
Once this is part of their lives, it becomes a way of life. By the time they are adults, they know what to do, and how not to engage in anything capable of ruining their personality.”
Insisting that electronic voting guarantees free and fair election, Atobalo advised political leaders to allow the system work effectively without manipulation.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) instructor, Adeyemo Peter Oludare, who disclosed that the school adopted e-voting since 2019, remarked that every student has the opportunity to vote for their preferred candidates without being influenced.
“Before the election process, candidates have a manifesto and did their campaign. So, the students now have good knowledge of the right person for each post. They can login to vote using their email address assigned to them upon registering with the school.”
