Segun Ayinde, Abeokuta
Ogun State Government has sounded a note of warning to teachers of state-owned primary and secondary schools to desist from administering corporal punishment on pupils and students.
This was coming following the death of a Senior Secondary Schools Student 2 of Obada Secondary School, Obada, Idi-Emi, Monday Arijo who died after being beaten and punished by a teacher of the school.
Mr Amzadjo Elijah was said to have beaten Arijo 24 strokes of the canes and also asked him to observe 162 frog jumps, a punishment which later resulted to his death
Already, the state government had arrested and suspended both the teacher and the school principal, Mrs Tamrat Onaolapo who ordered the corporal punishment on the student against the established rules and regulations of the state.
But, the State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu who led a delegation on Tuesday to pay another condolence visit to the family of the late student, warned teachers in public schools against issuing corporal punishment on students.
Arigbabu said that the state government had set up a committee to look into the matter, urging the teachers to used world standard disciplinary methods for the students rather than using corporal punishment to discipline them.
He said: “The state government has set up a committee to look into the root cause and all other circumstances surrounding what has happened because when anything occurs, the most important thing is for us to learn from a particular situation, not only about Obada Grammar School.
“I have said this in the past; we usually have what we call stakeholders’ meetings before the beginning of every session, where I always reiterate the need to say no to corporal punishment.
“What I am saying is that this is not even about Ogun State; we are saying that this is a world standard. There are regulations against corporal punishment. That does not mean children will not behave well; we can actually discipline children. We can raise them to become whatever they want to be in life without resorting to corporal punishment.”
The commissioner assured the parents that the state government would continue to monitor and hand out sanctions to teachers who are found culpable of administering corporal punishment to students under their care, noting that teachers should always endeavor to follow the rules of the game.
“When you do something and you are not caught, there is nothing we can do about it. But this time, we know about it. We are saying that teachers, as much as we don’t want to discourage them from doing their work, should do it in accordance with the rules of the game. That is what we are saying.
“The most important thing is for us to continue to monitor and also hand out sanctions whenever we find anybody culpable. That is why we are not taking this lightly; we have taken all necessary steps to unravel whatever surrounds this particular situation so that we will all be able to learn: the teachers, parents, head teachers, principals, even the government; everybody learns from it,” he said.
Arigbabu admonished teachers to continue to display a high level of maturity and professionalism, adding that there were other ways of disciplining students rather than using corporal punishment, which might eventually led to chaos.
“As trained teachers, there are a number of ways to instill discipline. We are not saying there should be indiscipline in schools; what we are saying is that there are other ways through which you can discipline a child.
“Like the incident that happened, that is what occurs when you use corporal punishment or a cane indiscriminately; you have this type of situation on your hands. We have always spoken against it,” he stressed
The commissioner also assured parents that their children would be given the best training and education in schools under a very conducive atmosphere, adding that the state government has handed out suspensions to the teacher and principal involved.
“I want to assure parents that we are on top of this. The teachers who were responsible have had action taken against them; we have handed out suspensions to the teacher as well as the principal of the school. We are also taking measures to support the family with whatever is necessary to ensure that this pain is something we assist them in bearing,” he added.
Speaking on behalf of the family, Mr. Abdullateef Oduntan noted that the family is not interested in a legal battle with the state government but is expectant that the government will do all in its power to ensure that such an incident does not happen again anywhere in the state.
Meanwhile, a post-mortem is being conducted by the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) on the late student to determine the cause of death.