Ogun warns teachers against corporal punishment

The Ogun State Government has sent a second delegation to commiserate with the family of Monday Arijo, the pupil who died on Friday after being subjected to corporal punishment by a teacher at the Obada Grammar School, Idi-Emi in Imeko/Afon Local Government area of the state.

This comes as the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta is already conducting a post-mortem on the deceased to determine the cause of his death.

The delegation, led by the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, was the second government team to pay a condolence visit to the family.

Abayomi, after visiting the family of the deceased on Tuesday, sounded a note of warning to teachers in state-owned primary and secondary schools to desist from administering corporal punishment on pupils and students under their care.

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.”

Arigbabu, while assuring parents that the state government will continue to monitor and hand out sanctions to teachers who are found culpable of administering corporal punishment to students under their care, noted 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.

The commissioner also urged teachers to continue to display a high level of maturity and professionalism, adding that there are other ways of disciplining students rather than using corporal punishment, which will eventually lead 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 said.

Arigbabu 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 had 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 was not interested in a legal battle with the state government but was expectant that the government would do all in its power to ensure that such an incident does not happen again anywhere in the state.

In her remarks, the Special Adviser on Education to the Ogun State Governor, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, noted that the state government would continue to support the family during and after the mourning period, as well as ensure that such incidents did not repeat themselves anywhere in the state.

Meanwhile, a post-mortem is being conducted by the Federal Medical Centre on the late student to determine the cause of death.