Justice elusive amidst rising killings of students in schools

Of recent, Nigerians have been enraged by some unacceptable happenings around some secondary schools where students are molested and others beaten up leading to some getting killed. Some days ago, the social media was on fire as Nigerians expressed angry following the release of the video of a 12-year-old student of Dowen College in Lekki, […]

Of recent, Nigerians have been enraged by some unacceptable happenings around some secondary schools where students are molested and others beaten up leading to some getting killed.

Some days ago, the social media was on fire as Nigerians expressed angry following the release of the video of a 12-year-old student of Dowen College in Lekki, Lagos, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, who was allegedly attacked by some of his senior colleagues for refusing to join a cult group.

Controversy is, therefore, trailing the death of Oromoni Jnr, whose father bears the same name as him. The father is claiming that his son was fed some liquid substance and intimidated into keeping quiet over what transpired. 

The school had earlier dismissed the claim, alleging that the deceased only sustained injuries while playing football with his colleagues.

Oromoni Snr was quoted to have said: “The boys they mentioned were also reported to the school last term when they bullied Junior and collected all his foodstuff and clothes. 

“They put fear in him so much so that, when you ask him, he might keep to himself and say, ‘they will kill me’. This way, we didn’t know what to do.”

Although the Lagos State government ordered the indefinite closure of Dowen College, pending the outcome of an investigation into the death of the student, many Nigerians are not relenting as they keep demanding justice for the student.

Meanwhile, this story is a familiar one to Nigerians conversant with the story of the death of 14-year-old Keren Akpagher of Premiere Academy, Lugbe, Abuja, which broke out in June.

The death generated a lot of controversies when the mother of the girl, Vivien Akpagher, took to social media to say, Keren was raped, insisting that it culminated in the complications that claimed the life of her daughter.

While the school struggled to exonerate itself from the allegation of rape, the grieving mother of the young student kept demanding justice.

She also called out the school for what she described as a “deliberate distortion of facts and publicity stunt” to preserve their business interest without regard to the life of her daughter, “which they have cut short.”

However, the Lead Director of the school, Mrs Oluremi Fawehinmi, who tried to clear the air on circumstances surrounding the death of the ex-student, maintained that Keren left the school in stable condition.

Another heart-wrenching story that broke out in August is that of a 13-year-old JSS 2 student of Federal Government College, Kwali, Yahaya Nuhu, who was allegedly beaten to death by a teacher, Mrs Gibson, for failing to do his homework.

It was reported that the deceased, Yahaya, had told the teacher about his indisposition when she requested that homework be submitted.

Dissatisfied with the late student’s response, the teacher ordered him to go and remove weeds as punishment. After completing the task, the teacher then beat him to death. 

But the school authorities are also accused of trying to cover up the killing by attributing the cause of death to cerebral malaria while on admission at Rema Clinic in Kwali and presenting a death certificate to the family, showing the student died of malaria.

Daily Trust reports years back a 16-year-old SSS3 student, Michael Paul Ogbe, of ASACS International Staff College, Bwari, Abuja, who reportedly died during the school’s inter-house sports after sustaining a head injury in one of the events.

The mother, Marian Nnanna Ogbe, who is traumatised, requested for a probe of the incident, saying he would have survived if he had been taken to hospital without delay.

Recall could also be made of an 11-year-old student of Deeper Life School, Akwa Ibom who gave a graphic account of how the senior students allegedly abused him.

The victim’s parents are claiming that the senior students of the school took advantage of him when the school authorities switched him from his dormitory to another that was filled with senior students.

They also claimed he was bullied and starved by the senior students.

The authority had kept on claiming that investigation was ongoing. 

Justice is still yet to be served in all these cases.

Parents express fear 

A parent, who is a member of the Parents Teacher Association of one of the FGCs in Abuja, Michael Uche, said the happenings around schools has become so scary that he is contemplating removing his two wards from the school. 

He said the school management is not after the safety of children left under their care but the money they make, which is why they do not care about what is happening around their campuses. 

“A lot of bad things are happening to these children and they are not speaking up. It is unfortunate that some lost their lives. The government also seems to aid them as they keep sweeping the issues under the carpet. We have not heard of any justice done in the cases,” he said 

Another parent, Mrs Eucharia Azubuike, said it has become so worrisome that boarding schools are appearing to be sending children to an early grave. She blamed the school authority and parents for allowing bullying and indiscipline to keep happening. 

She said some children are not meant to be in boarding school but their parents forced them without proper monitoring and there they cannot defend themselves from bullying. 

“Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do when you lose your child as a result of bullying or beating because we have a system that does not serve justice. Have you heard of anyone punished for any of the atrocities; it is just swept under the carpet after a while,” she said.

Experts speak on why bullying, indiscipline persist

An educationist, Olasunkanmi Opeifa, said it is quite unfortunate that these gory incidents are being experienced in the education sector but said it is not too late to retrace our steps.

He said: “Students, who are psychologically/emotionally troubled, wreak havoc through bullying, rape, fighting, malpractice etc. 

“Such children should be identified and helped promptly with love so that they will not turn their fellow classmates into their soft targets.”

Opeifa said society needs to address a lot of issues around the right values. “It’s disheartening that the school that’s used to mould human beings has now become a den of all manner of ills,” he said.

He said parents and teachers need to speak with one voice and adopt the same values. “In a situation where a teacher believes flogging is for discipline and parents see it as child abuse, violence and disruption cannot cease. 

“The children are equally left confused about the right value to adopt. It’s really pertinent for us all to have genuine meeting points,” he said. 

“It is high time teachers embraced professionalism. Respect for your profession starts from you. Teachers should understand the limit of engagement with certain students,” he said.

Another educationist, Oluwabunmi Anani said: “When a school focuses on ‘customers’ and ‘profit’, then the end justifies the means! When a school worships elitism over correctness and principles, there is a breakdown of law, order and common sense.”

“Why, in the first place, should there be repeated cases of bullying in a school, to the point that it becomes fatally impeding? One, it shows that the moral and intellectual compass of that child or student is questionable and it proves that the moral stance of the school system is weak and compromising,” she said.

Anani further said, it tells of the poor monitoring, reporting and disciplinary apparatus of the school itself and it reeks of the absence of parental involvement in the emotional, psychological, and moral build-up of the child.

“We have a high rate of indiscipline and a steady creeping-in of cultism in our secondary schools because we all have unanimously chosen to abandon the African culture of communal discipline and turn education into a mere business enterprise for money-spinning and social connections.”

She explained that they have a screwed value system as schools are no longer a place where students learn and are moulded into responsible human beings who can functionally and meaningfully integrate into society.

“Rather, it has been converted to a business centre where the focal concern is on personal profit – not the goal of education! Hence, compromises are embraced; parents are worshipped and obliged at the detriment of the big picture; children are handled with kid gloves and teachers are turned into an extension of domestic servants,” she said.

On disciplinary action taken by teachers, she said: “Report shows that most teachers infuse so much anger, fury, frustration, and fierceness when applying the rod on an erring student. This excessive ‘discipline’, according to these reports, usually results in the death of such students. The question is “what warrants this excessive posture from teachers?”

The educationist blamed the poor state of affairs for the absence of mentoring, saying, “mentoring is completely absent in our schools. Rather than help, guide, coach and appraise principles and methods with younger teachers, what we find is criticism, complaints, blame trading and unwarranted comparisons.”

She suggested that teachers must arise and enforce the right thing and that the government should be more intentional about involvement in the way schools are run, especially with regards to discipline.