Parents of some pupils of the Nigerian Army Officers’ Wives Association Model Nursery and Primary School, Ojo, Lagos, have accused the school of inflicting injuries on their children through flogging.
One of the affected parents, Mr Yemi Adeyemi-Enilari, in a petition to the President of NAOWA, Mrs Salamatu Yahaya, and titled, ‘Request to investigate conduct bordering on child abuse at NAOWA Model Nursery And Primary School, Ojo, Lagos,’ appealed that attention should be given his request so that it would save lives and stem the tide of repeated abuses in the school.
He said, “The week before the first test of the third term of the 2020/2021 session, my youngest child was flogged with a very fat cane by a teacher who was standing in for her class teacher at that time. I immediately reported the matter to the head teacher without confronting the concerned teacher – I do not know if anything was done.
“The week after, my second daughter was flogged by one Mr Sunday (who was the teacher for her class during the tests) for not finishing her tests fast. The day after that initial flogging, Mr Sunday claimed that one of the pupils spoilt the charger of his phone and flogged all the students mercilessly. I also reported the case.
“Specifically, on Tuesday, January 25, 2022, my older daughter in the school complained that she was flogged on her buttocks and could not sit down comfortably. When we inquired, we discovered that the daughter of a teacher, Mrs Ojeigbe, who is in Command Day Secondary School, went to my daughter’s class (Primary 3A), the class of one Mrs Yusuf and flogged students for making noise.
“On another occasion, Mrs Abang stood in front of my daughters and said ‘Your father is a crazy man.’ The children reported this in front of another teacher, Mrs Ovounmen, and I took them to the head teacher to repeat the words.”
Another parent who resides in the Ojo Cantonment and did not want her name in print alleged that, “My six-year-old child got home and said his legs were paining him, that his teacher’s daughter gave him punishment. After two days, he couldn’t walk, I had to go and report to the head teacher who called the teacher and warned him.
“Recently again, they flogged him on his hand and it was swollen. They should stop beating our children in anger. They should show love to the children and correct them in love.”
Also in an interview, a mother of a three-year-old boy also complained of the demeaning words spoken to her son.
“My child is in playgroup and one morning, he said he wasn’t going to school and I asked what happened. He said the teacher told him that a classmate with who they started school together can write one to five but my son has refused to write.
“This affected my son, and he was crying he doesn’t want to go to school again. I followed him to the school and the teacher apologised. But I must say it that there are teachers in the school who are fond of flogging children without decorum,” the concerned parent said.
When contacted, the school’s head teacher, Mr Segun Akinpelu, declined to speak with our correspondent on the issue on the telephone.
He said, “I want you to come to the school; I can’t tell you anything on the phone.
“I know you are from The PUNCH, you need to come to ascertain what you just asked. Who gave you my number? Is it the parents who gave you my number? I can’t tell you anything.”
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