On The Queen’s College ‘Eyelashes’ Debacle

In 2017, Queen’s College, Lagos was in the news for the worst possible reason: death of three promising students – Vivian Osuinyi, Bithia Itulua and Praise Sodipo. These young girls were victims of years of negligence and corruption according to online newspaper, The Cable. Two years later, the once prestigious school has been in the […]

In 2017, Queen’s College, Lagos was in the news for the worst possible reason: death of three promising students – Vivian Osuinyi, Bithia Itulua and Praise Sodipo.

These young girls were victims of years of negligence and corruption according to online newspaper, The Cable.

Two years later, the once prestigious school has been in the news not for winning laurels or any groundbreaking initiative, rather for its false puritanism, while students’ health is in dire strait.

This year, barely a month ago, the same college was hit by an infection epidemic that affected over  1, 000 students.

“It is over 1,000 (pupils) now as we speak. See, I cannot talk about what I don’t know. What you have in your palm, you don’t need a mirror to look at it,” the Chairman of the Parents Teacher Association, John Ofobike, was quoted by The Punch (Published October 1, 2019.)

The fundamental issues of deep-seated rot, corruption and negligence are surprisingly not worth tackling rather it is the mistake of a student dressing inappropriately and carelessness of her parent that makes the news!

Without a doubt, institutional frameworks and regulations are to be followed, but when mistakes or flouting those rules happen, there are better ways to address those issues rather than the banal effort to shame, ridicule and demean the offender, in this instance a minor.

In an era in which sexual abuse and violence of minors and women are on the increase, it comes to me as a shocking surprise that some people, including women who ought to know better and be more sensitive, failed to see how the two security men of the college were ‘valiantly’ pinning the distraught child to have her picture taken. For what? Wearing eyelashes!

Has it occurred to those cheering on the gallant security men that they could have been enabled to molest the young ladies that are students in that college for any little infractions simply because they have been knighted as moral guardians?

It beggars belief that supposedly responsible adults and parents are gleefully tweeting and sharing the picture of a minor on various social media platforms without taking into cognizance the damage not only to her reputation, but the psychological implication which could be tragic.

People, stop the hypocrisy, halt the shaming, desist from the retributive, interrogate issues deeply and critically and let’s build a society of empathy!