IT is symptomatic of a lawless society sliding inexorably into the abyss for a school teacher to be at the mercy of students chastising and meting out their own version of justice to him when he ordinarily should be the one showing them the pathway to moral and academic excellence. The saddening reversal of roles which happened in a secondary school in Kogi State evidences the heightening moral decadence in the society. A fellow teacher in the same school has made a passionate appeal to the authorities to curb the activities of the “boys” who appear to be quite notorious in that environment, saying: “We urge the State Ministry of Education, State Education Board, the security agencies and other relevant authorities to urgently swing into action with a view to bringing the perpetrators to book, forestall future occurrences, and instill discipline in our schools and colleges.” This frantic call on the relevant authorities by the concerned and apparently distraught teacher at Ebira Muslim Community College in Okengwe, Okene Local Government Area, whose colleague was allegedly beaten to a stupor, is instructive.
The aberrant students said to be in Senior Secondary 2 (SS2) had reportedly disguised as cultists and launched a vicious attack on their Physics teacher, Muktar Salihu, who became unconscious and had to be rushed to an undisclosed hospital where he reportedly came to, and is now responding to treatment. The motivation for the attack is yet unknown but what wrong could a teacher have done to his students to warrant their laying hands on him, and indeed attempting to kill him? This is an abomination. It is alien to African culture for younger persons to physically assault an elderly person, especially someone who is playing the crucial role of shaping their lives so that they can become independent and responsible adults. Should the case be proven, it will be the height of disrespect and ingratitude. Reports say the students actually meant to humiliate and embarrass the victim but whether deliberately or inadvertently, they did much more than that; they almost took his life. And in any case, why would a group of students seek to humiliate and embarrass their teacher if they were in their proper frame of mind?
The incident is disturbing, especially against the backdrop of the allegation that the ring leader of the group is the son of a traditional ruler in Okene Local Government Area. We urge the government to get to the root of this matter. For instance, the public will like to know whether the unscrupulous students acted on their own or did the bidding of some influential persons acting behind the scenes. Secondary school students who beat their teachers can graduate into cultists in higher institutions if not checked now. That the students, one of them the son of a privileged citizen, had the temerity to beat up and almost kill their teacher is diametrically unacceptable, and that is why the police must launch a painstaking inquiry into the bizarre incident. The school authorities have a duty to maintain discipline and ensure that everybody conducts his/her affairs within the precincts of the law, decorum and decency. The school environment must be safe for everyone. It is also the duty of the school authorities to report cases of recalcitrant and incorrigible students to a higher authority and/or security agencies, especially when they observe in them criminal tendencies that could imperil the wellbeing of innocent members of the school community.
Again, it is important to always ensure that the sanctions meted out to students who commit criminal acts within or outside their school grounds transcend the disciplinary measures stipulated in the rule books of the school. In other words, in addition to the disciplinary measures earmarked by the school authorities for students who are in breach of the law, such errant students must be made to face the full wrath of the law like any other outlaw, so that undisciplined and untrained children who are wont to hide under the cloak of studentship to always go overboard will think twice before they do so. For instance, if a group of students out of youthful exuberance commit murder or manslaughter and they are tried in court and sentenced to death or life imprisonment respectively, their ilk will realise that studentship neither confers immunity on anyone, nor is it a license for impunity.
The society, and more significantly parents at the family level, must take informal education of children and wards very seriously. The rate at which young people are misbehaving and standing logic on its head at every turn is alarming and intolerable. It suggests that more and more parents and guardians are shirking their responsibility of shaping the character and conduct of their children and wards to be of high standards. It is so bad that many of them are not just morally bankrupt but they also seem to be struggling even with distinguishing between what constitutes legal or illegal acts. And unsurprisingly, a good number of youths today clearly lack the capacity to weigh the consequences of their actions before engaging in them. Or why would a group of students contemplate assaulting their teacher and actually carry out the devious plan? The fact that the teacher went into coma following the assault makes the students liable for attempted murder and/or assault causing grevious bodily harm. If the students had been sensible enough to know the implications of these offences in the eye of the law, they would have been more circumspect in their actions.
We urge the police to handle this matter in such a way that the law will ultimately make an example of these ill-mannered and callous students to serve as a deterrent to their ilk. It is comforting to know that the Divisional Police Officer in the area where the criminal offence was allegedly committed has waded into the matter and ordered the traditional ruler whose son led the assault to produce his son without fail. The traditional ruler has a duty to hand over his son to the police and any attempt to shield him from prosecution constitutes a breach of the law that attracts dire consequences. Hopefully, the apprehension of the ring leader will lead to that of his accomplices so that they can all have their day in court. And under no condition should the suspects be treated with kid gloves just because they are students. The truth is that they are potential criminals, and indeed, in the eye of the law, they are felons if they are found culpable, and should be treated as such.
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