It is unfortunate that we had to enter Women’s Month on a bad note last Thursday when a 19-year-old girl was allegedly sjambokked at Cefups Academy and ended up at Mediclinic, where she passed away two hours later of being admitted into the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Such incidents get one infuriated to such an extent you’d also wish the school to be shut down because corporal punishment is the norm despite it having been banned in the country.
The school seemingly has an undertaking from the parents, that corporal punishment should be used on their children.
There have been many inputs on this issue which come through our social networking with our readers on our website, whereby, some parents have rightly pointed out that the harshness of the corporal punishment meted out at this school is as a result of ignorant and irresponsible parents.
Granted, the school has the necessary permission from the parents to mete out corporal punishment, but why then do they run to law enforcement when it all goes wrong? They waste the time of the police if they open assault cases against the school, only to withdraw them again.
The owner of the school is very vocal about his hardcore discipline and openly says if parents do not wish their children to be disciplined, then they must not bring them to his school, despite many serious cases that had been brought against him.
This time though, the death of this learner has brought a dark cloud to his system. If the community is so hard-pressed as to call for the closure of the school or justice taking its course upon the owner of the school, they should openly cooperate with the police in the investigation.
Also, if the department of education has to act in the right way in this case, it needs the full cooperation of the parents, but they seem to be dilly-dallying in volunteering information. giving the owner the opportunity to get away with murder.
It is hoped that this time around, the parents of the latest victim who have opened a case of murder with the police, fully cooperate and let justice take its course and allow all other units of government to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation once and for all!
