August 04, (THEWILL) – The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Bayelsa State Governor on Tourism, Mr Piriye Kiyaramo, has tasked schools to encourage outdoor educational activities, adding that without time off from classroom work, children become both bored and boring.
Addressing final year students from Deeper Life High School, who were on an excursion visit to the Chief Historian and Archivist of Bayelsa State, at State archives at the Ijaw House, Yenagoa, on Wednesday, Mr Kiyaramo stated that “education is all about the overall development of an individual.”
According to the governor’s aide, there was a need to maintain balance between active engagements indoors and outdoors to develop the mind, body, and soul, pointing out that kids of any age naturally have the need to move around to learn.
He hinted at plans by his office to collaborate with schools to organise field trips for groups to historic sites and monuments under the platform of “Kids In Tourism Bayelsa Initiative”, to promote the rich cultural heritage of the Ijaws, home and in the diaspora.
Mr Kiyaramo, popularly known and addressed as Mr Tourism, maintained that a sufficient amount of physical activities through outdoor activities freshens the mind and body, reiterating that children are always happy, motivated and relaxed to do activities outdoors.
“They can focus better on the task at hand as play stimulates the neural connections in the brain and helps in regulating their emotions, making plans and solving problems. Outdoor education involves collaboration and team building tasks.
“Children learn to communicate with each other and imbibe attributes of problem solving and that of building healthy relationships among them. Outdoor activities give children the space to explore, discover and think freely, thus reducing barriers to communication.
“Outdoor education allows them to build essential life skills and better coping mechanisms: for instance, while playing a sport/game, failure/inability to do a task well teaches children to understand the cause for the same and helps one stand up on the feet to try again”, the SSA explained.
Earlier, the Chief Historian/Archivist of Bayelsa State, Dr Stephen T. Olali, while commending Deeper Life High School, Bayelsa Campus, for being the trailblazer to visit the state archives on an excursion, said that his responsibilities include, assembling, cataloging, preserving and managing valuable collections of historical information.
Dr Olali called on public and private sector organisations, particularly educational institutions in the state to collaborate with the state archives to promote the rich cultural heritage of the people.
He further explained that his office evaluates, selects, retrieves and arranges historical materials, answers inquiries from the public, and organises publicity, talks and exhibitions, geared toward making the archives accessible to a wide range of users.
Speaking on behalf of their colleagues during the visit, Master Destiny Fiabema Oribi and Miss Tokoni Temeketin, thanked the Chief Historian/Archivist, Dr Olali, for giving them the privilege to explore the state archives, describing the maiden visit to the archives as a once in a lifetime experience.
Earlier the tour guide, Ebiere Jane Gbefa, had taken the visiting students around various departments and units of the state archives.
The highpoint of the visit was the presentation of a copy of a book authored by Dr Olali to each of the participating students and the School Principal.
Dignitaries at the event include veteran journalists, Mr Victor Christopher, Mr Jide Dominic, the Curator from the National Commission for Museums and Monuments in charge of the Oloibiri Oil and Gas Museum, Yenagoa, Mrs Adelani Rachael and the team leader, Mr Oke Omoyibo.
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