“Our teacher punishes us very hard. He makes us go down on our knees over small stones or bottle screw tops for over one hour. He flogs us always over little things”
—Anonymous 13- year-old JSS3 pupil
In 2012, a teacher, Mrs. Njideka Imoka, reportedly flogged her pupil, Chidinma Ukachukwu, to death. The girl was a pupil of St. John of God Secondary School Awka, Anambra State. Her offence: She refused to do her assignment. In Osun State, Joshua Ajayi, a pupil of Geometry International Group of Schools was allegedly beaten to death by his teacher over a case of truancy. The killer teacher is still facing trial. In Port Harcourt, Rivers State a 13-year-old student of Shiloh Hills Remedial and Advanced College was allegedly flogged till he slumped and died by his principal, Mr. Chudi Nwoko.
Welcome to the world of Nigeria’s wicked educators.
In Lagos, I recently met Omotunde Azeez. The 12-year-old pupil of a primary school in Eti Osa LGA was a sad example of the psychological trauma corporal punishment can inflict on a child. When I found him, he was looking dishevelled and sitting in front of an empty kiosk a few weeks after his school resumed after the Easter holiday. Clutching a ragged-looking school bag with his wet and faded school uniform, he was oblivious of other pupils who loitered around the street leading to their school gate. His first reaction when I approached him was to flee.
He soon calmed down when he realised that I posed no threat to him. On further investigation, I confirmed that many of the pupils whom I had seen often hang around the school gate for fear of being flogged by a fierce-looking teacher holding a long whip. The case of Omotunde was pathetic and touching, his back and neck area bore signs of severe cane lashes that have left deep scars on the skin. He fretted and looked unbalanced. He was also not comfortable with adults. I approached the school to confirm the veracity of the claim by the mostly illiterate parents and neighbours and also to make a case for the pupils.
I thought the school should understand that punishing pupils for late coming in a state like Lagos with a chaotic traffic situation was unjustified. Moreover, the time was still 8.am. To my dismay, I met a large number of pupils at the school gate sobbing profusely as they watched the angry-looking teacher lash away furiously at a female pupil. The girl who was being brutally beaten with a stick was held down by two men. When the beating was done, she slumped to the ground half-conscious. The teacher ignored her and called the next offender! Welcome to the world of Nigeria’s killer teachers and their helpless pupils. But is there any reason to abuse or torture a child in order to correct inappropriate behaviour like late coming as I saw in the school In Lagos?
Corporal punishment is a disciplinary method in which a supervising adult deliberately inflicts pain upon a child in response to a child’s unacceptable behaviour and/or inappropriate language. In corporal punishment, the adult usually hits various parts of the child’s body with a hand, or with canes, paddles, yardsticks, belts, or other objects expected to cause pain and fear. In spite of several campaigns, Acts of Parliament and treaties against this act, the situation unfortunately persists in our schools (both public and private) today. Public schools across Nigeria are still like police stations where out-of-control teachers apply the severe form of corporal punishment on hapless pupils. The result is that more pupils are dropping out of school out of fear.
The prevalence of corporal punishment in our schools today is contrary to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child which Nigeria, as a member nation, ratified and signed in 1990. Article 19 of the UNCRC says: “State parties shall take all legislative, administrative, social and educational measures to protect the child from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, maltreatment or exploitation, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parent(s), legal guardian(s) or any other person who has the care of the child”. In 2011, the Lagos State House of Assembly assented to a bill banning all forms of corporal punishment in public schools in the state. Yet, many teachers continue to flout the rule banning the corporal punishment.
The examples given above represent the sad reality of corporal punishment in Nigerian schools today. In many private schools, unprofessional school owners employ untrained educators who unleash their personal frustrations on hapless pupils. Also in public schools, corporal punishment is thought to be the only way to correct inappropriate behaviour in pupils. Subsequently, pupils continue to be at the receiving end of injurious, sadistic and deadly corporal punishment. International concern for the danger corporal punishment poses to the right and well-being of pupils has long been established.
In 2001, the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children was launched to speed up the end of corporal punishment of children across the world. The campaign is also aimed at ensuring that the recommendations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and other human rights bodies are accepted and that governments move speedily to implement legal reform and public education programmes. The campaign is about preventing all forms of violence against children in schools, including corporal punishment, sexual abuse, neglect, verbal and emotional abuse, bullying, peer to peer violence, use of weapons and harassment in school and on the journey to and from school.
Corporal punishment of children breaches their fundamental human rights to respect for human dignity and physical integrity. Its legality in almost every state worldwide — in contrast to other forms of inter-personal violence — challenges the universal right to equal protection under the law. Two out of three school-going children in this country are victims of some form of corporal punishment and majority of the punishment takes place in public schools. Over the years, research has shown corporal punishment to be ineffective. Studies have linked it to adverse physical, psychological and educational outcomes including, increased aggressive and destructive behaviour, increased disruptive classroom behaviour, vandalism, poor school achievement, poor attention span, increased drop-out rate, school avoidance and school phobia, low self-esteem anxiety, somatic complaints, depression, suicide and retaliation against teacher. There have been several cases of permanent injuries and even deaths. In most cases the health history of students are not considered. In Osun State in 2008, a pupil was said to have lost an eye in a public school due to flogging by an irate teacher. In another incident, a sickle cell patient was flogged in a school. She later died of the crisis. The imperative for removing adults’ assumed rights to hit children is that of fundamental human rights. Many children will never reach their potential if they are in a learning environment of fear and threats. The urgency with which we should address the issue is still lacking.
As we address the philosophical defects of using violence against children, we must address what can be done to “repair” the victims (like Omotunde Azeez) who have yet a long way to go in life. The UNCRC convention states, in its Article 19, to protect children from “all forms of physical and mental violence” while in the care of parents and others. Hitting children is also a dangerous practice, which can cause physical and psychological injury and even death. Promoting positive, non-violent forms of discipline empowers parents and reduces family stress.
The use of violence is a practice that can hamper the child’s development of his or her communication ability; can encourage aggressive behaviour and destroy the child’s self-confidence and internal value system. Physical punishment generates a destructive relationship based on force, between the adult and the young person; a relationship that can hinder trust within the family.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child offers valuable tools to combat the use of corporal punishment. It requires countries to take all necessary legislative measures to prohibit all forms of violence. It also encourages countries to take preventive action, including through human rights education and by creating an environment conducive to the administration of discipline “in a manner consistent with the child’s human dignity”. I believe that in addition to legal prohibition, sensitisation of education stakeholders — in particular, parents and teachers, school administrators — to the negative impact of physical violence is a key aspect of the process leading to non-violent schools. Schoolchildren deserve better than to be beaten for their so-called errors or disobedience. They deserve constant and quality guidance and attention; creative and enriching dialogue; and stimulating and challenging education.
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