By OKECHUKWU NWANGUMA

The controversy generated by the sad report of the death of Sylvester Oromoni, a 12-year-old student of Dowen College, Lekki Lagos, who was reported to have been bullied and beaten by fellow students, leading to his death, and the denial by the school authority of the alleged cause of death brings to the fore, the unspoken and hardly addressed ordeal that children in public and private schools go through in the hands, not just of their bullying seniors but also even of some of their abusive teachers and guardians.

This sad incident should stir the ever responsive Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwolu, to order an urgent investigation into what has been the numerousity of complaints of similar events in public and private schools in the state which underscore the great vulnerability that the children are exposed to in the hands of bullying seniors and their abusive teachers and guardians. Most of these children are too traumatised, timid and afraid to speak up or complain about the traumatic, life-threatening abuses they suffer in school for the fear of further harm or death. Many times, the children are innocently cajoled by their abusers to oath swearing.

Many of these children, out of sheer fear of terror, become too timid and afraid to speak up or complain about the abuses, pain and inconveniences they suffer in school. Even when some of them hint at their experiences when they return home on break or holidays, their parents or guardians hardly take note or take steps to find out what the children are feeling, saying or expressing because some of the parents are either engrossed in their careers or do not understand their role. Many parents hardly take note or create time to get comprehensive information concerning issues raised by children in boarding schools.

Even without the child saying anything, any attentive and perceptive parent or guardian should be able to discern when a child is living in fear or trauma from the harsh experiences they endure in the dormitory and classroom. Every dilligent parent should communicate and engage their children to express themselves at all times. Children should be engaged by parents to find out if they are being bullied or abused by any one at school. Parents must learn the power of observation and engage with their children’s school progress. A perceptive parent should be attentive and should be able to easily discern when a child is living in fear and trauma from the harsh experiences the children endure in class rooms and dormitory.

The fact that the school authorities in Dowen are denying that Sylvester died from bullying by fellow students is hardly surprising. It is a default mode typical of public and especially, private school authority. They first deny – even when they know the truth, just so that they will protect the 'image,' and of course, the commercial interest of the school. But a thorough investigation will and should unravel the truth and appropriate remedial actions, including sanctions for derelict authority taken.

What indeed, is the role of Parents Teachers Association (PTA) in our schools. What do they discuss when they meet? Among others, do they prioritise in their agenda, the wellbeing and the living and learning conditions of their children?

Often, PTAs become politicised and turned into avenues for the leaders, in collusion with the school authority, to exploit and extort money from parents and to advance individual and narrow interests. They hardly address or – at best – relegate discussion on poor sanitary environment in school dormitories; poor feeding, inadequate learning environment, the continued resort to corporal punishment to terrorise and abuse children in the guise of discipline even when government has clearly prohibited corporal punishment in schools.

I commend Lagos State for sustaining the initiative in providing accessible and affordable education for children in Lagos State through, among others, the establishment of Model Colleges across the State. The Model Colleges subsidise the cost of education, especially for children from the average and indigent homes. What is especially notable in the case of Lagos State is that in making education accessible and affordable in the state, it does not discriminate on the ground of ethnicity or religion. Children of different states origin in Nigeria are found in almost equal numbers in Lagos State Model Colleges. This is the spirit of one Nigeria which must be applauded and emulated by all other states and regions in Nigeria.

However, the tragic incident at Bowen provides the opportune moment and impetus for the Lagos State government to take a closer look into what is going on in public and private schools in the state.

I wish to plead with the Lagos State Governor to look into, especially, widespread complaints about poor dormitory accommodation and sanitation as well as substandard feeding and general well-being of children in some Model Colleges in the state.

There are complaints, for example, that the children are poorly fed and that they live in congested and dirty dormitories. Some complain that due to insufficient bed spaces, two children are made to share a 6-spring bed meant only for one child. The dormitories are bedbug infested. This is very discomforting and dangerous. Some complain also that the sewage pits when filled up and spilling, are never evacuated and the stench ooze into their dormitories constituting great discomfort and health hazard which explains why the children often fall sick, yet the college health centres lack the basic equipment and drugs to treat the mildest of ailments. Often, parents are called to come and take their children home for treatment.

Despite its prohibition by government and under the Child Rights Act which Nigeria has signed up and domesticated, some children still complain of being abused by their teachers and guardians through the use of corporal punishment. Bullying by senior students is also prevalent.

I call for a thorough and honest investigation to unravel the truth about what happened and how Sylvester Oromoni of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos State died. But it is also important to avoid a repeat of the sad incident, not just at Dowen, but in any other private or public institution.

Thus, the tragedy of Dowen College provides the opportunity for the Lagos State government to take a closer look at the experiences of children in both private and public schools in the state. It will not be out of place if State school supervisors and educational regulators or alternatively, a special committee, is set up by the Governor to undertake fact-finding visits to especially vulnerable schools during which they should randomly interact directly with the children in a child-friendly manner to elicit frank responses from them about how they are treated and how they feel in school and what changes they want to see happen. This will prompt necessary remedial actions to protect children from abuse and make their school environment conducive to living and learning.

Children are the hope of any society’s future. Their best interest must be taken into consideration at all times, in policy and action.

•Nwanguma Okechukwu is a Lagos State based human rights and rule of law advocate. Contact: 08064974531

Update news